(Rusted) Ebony Shackles
by Zeta Grey
Summary: Their brother was stolen from them at a young age, and he might not ever return... or will he? will he be the same sweet boy they remembered...? he certainly wasn't as powerful as he was now... what's changed? (An old story that never saw the light of the day, but one I still think deserves it's place.) (Almost Permanent Hiatus.)
1. Chapter 1

_**(A/N: This is a story I've worked on a long time ago, every few days I'll release a chapter (as they're all pre-made), but be warned, it's pretty crap honestly, I've always wanted to release it, but I never got around to it… and eventually forgot about it.)**_

_**(Hopefully you'll see how I've come a long way from it's childishness writing by nature, please enjoy!)**_

**0-0-0-0-0**

Cold… cold and dark would be the very first words that'd pop into Ichika's head if you were to ask him about his current experience, the second words that would pop into his head would be tight and wet… but the main word he'd use to describe his situation would have to be fear. Fear of many things, but currently his biggest fear would be for his own life, fear that in time, would turn to anger… but that's okay, it's okay to be afraid, that's what his Onii-chan taught him, it's what she _drilled_ into his being, he thought about what she said to him for whenever he would be afraid.

"_It's okay to be afraid, for that is only one of the many emotions that make you human… but if you are afraid yet still follow through with whatever must be done, then that's what makes you Brave… and you know why heroes are so brave? Because even if they are afraid, they wont let an emotion as pathetic as fear __**control**__ who they are."_

After remembering the words of the wise, he quickly calmed himself and assessed the situation, for fear _Will Not_ control him, he must be strong, he must be brave, for Chifuyu-nee, for Madoka and for his friends. He observed his surroundings, he appeared to be in a small metal room and, at least from his current position, he couldn't make out the color of his metal prison, for there was no light anywhere within, however there were plenty of boxes and crates even a chest here and there, after a few moments his eyes adjusted to the room that contained him, the room looked more like a hallway than a room, perhaps he was in a cargo container of some sort?

'No, the room is unimportant right now, I must remove these restraints.' he looked at the accursed objects that bind him here, a large heavy pair of cuffs as large as his wrists held him in this nightmare, however the chain holding the cuff's themselves look frail and weak, even if he was taught never to judge something by his looks he decided to take a leap of faith and assume his chains could be broken easily… but how…?

He gave it an experimental tug, he was rewarded with nothing but the rustling sound the chains gave him, he looked at what he was chained to instead, it looked to be a handle to the metal box, perhaps a door handle? he couldn't see it very well, but he could try feeling it.

And that's what he did, he felt the base of the chain that imprisoned him here, after a few minutes of trial and error, he finally felt screws, and to his luck they were unbelievably loose. 'Looks like I found my out.' he silently cheered while quickly removing the screws with his small and nimble fingers. After a few minutes of removing the surprisingly long screw, he yanked the chains from the handle, and it came off with a snapping sound followed by a large thud, he wasn't worried about the weight of the cuffs, although he was young, he was quite the strong young man thanks to both of his sisters, and between wrestling with his twin Madoka and his training from Chifuyu he could likely hold or take on someone twice his size, he'd also be able to move these crates if he had to… and seeing the situation he was in at the moment he just might have to.

His chains were tight on his wrists and ankles as well as the large collar around his neck, the tightness made him think of a noose, just the thought of a noose around his throat reminded him of the urgency of his situation, not wasting any time he hobbled over painfully towards where he assumed the exit may be, not paying any heed to the boxes surrounding him at the moment.

As he moved he was reminded of how cold he was, he wasn't in his school uniform when he was captured, he was wearing casual clothes, after all, he was just going to be in the living room all day watching the Mondo Grosso, he wasn't counting on his own kidnapping however… he was still wearing his shoes strangely enough, even though he left them at the door back home, he also wore a pair of shorts and a simple light green shirt… unfortunately he wasn't wearing a jacket of any kind so he was freezing and miserable.

The room was big compared to him, but still small for human standards, the floor wasn't only cold as well, it was unbearably wet, combined with the temperature it felt like iced water clinging to his feet, clothes and binds, at this rate he was sure he'd get frostbite, luckily his shoes were durable so he still had time before such a thing would happen to his poor tootsies, after a few uncomfortable minutes of climbing over and under boxes to get to his desired location, he arrived to find… a bloodbath… a literal bloody bath, he could see much better now thanks to the hatch above him, the hatch was small and although it was see-through, he didn't doubt how thick it was, after all he couldn't hear the rain currently pelting it, he sees the water droplets just fine, but hearing it was a no go.

Back to the scene at hand, he was looking at a literal tub, full of blood…-bags, no nightmare fuel here, not today, though it is a strange way to store blood bags, he looked at the ground, watching the water at his feet ripple and lurch, almost as if he were… floating… he looked back at the hatch, not seeing any doors means this was likely currently his only way out, he could see the emergency release lever just a few feet above him. He looked closer through the hatch, looking for anything that could give him any clues as to where he may be, and through his observations, he could only see a street lamp.

It seems he's been here all day, and now it was night time, meaning the Mondo Grosso was likely wrapping up at the moment, and Chifuyu-nee would win soon… sadly he knew he was going to miss her big moment, and that thought alone brought some uncomfortable feelings to nearly surface, luckily he was strong enough to suppress them, as this was not the time, nor the place to sulk and feel shame. Instead he absolutely had to escape here, so he wouldn't be used as leverage by his kidnappers to make her forfeit the match, if that was what he was kidnapped for anyway, besides, he'll make her so proud if he escaped on his own, as he thought about how proud she'd be the light above him flickered, snapping him back to reality, he hatched a small plan inside his head to escape, it was incredibly simple even a toddler could think it up, though Tabane-nee would probably shake her head in disappointment and think of something much more complicated just for fun.

So he got to work pushing and lifting boxes and crates here and there to make some sort of staircase, he thought about the way he was kidnapped, he remembered sitting on the couch with a bowl of chips and a can of soda, even when Chifuyu taught him to only eat in the kitchen today was a big day, the day he was sure Chifuyu-nee would win the Mondo Grosso once again just like last year, he remembered trying to get his twin Madoka to enjoy it with him, to which she refused stubbornly, having some sort of grudge of some sort with her though she might have just been jealous.

Instead Madoka had gone to her room, who knows what she does in her spare time when she isn't clinging to him, perhaps she studied for school, or perhaps she takes naps, he may never know as she isn't alone often, the only time she leaves Ichika's side is… well, now that he thought about it she never _does_ leave his side no matter what. 'I hope she's okay…' thought Ichika worriedly as he finished his task and climbed up the makeshift stairway he created and reached out to the lever that was sure to set him free, though it was quite difficult climbing not only because of the bulk of the cuffs and chains, but also because of their unbelievable weight that were almost the reason for his downfall multiple times ever since they were put on.

Finally, finally he had his hands on the object of his freedom, with a strong and defiant pull, the latch came free with surprising ease, he was rewarded with an onslaught of the storm hitting him right in the face. But he was a big boy, a little water wasn't going to slow him down, just to be positive he escaped and to be sure of making his sister's proud and full of happiness, though they would likely never believe him when he tells them of his great escape, it'll still amuse them, he was sure of that much, he pulled himself out of the little room he had been trapped in and looked around almost alarmed. What he saw annoyed him, it seems he was on a large cargo vessel, near a shipyard, but not docked, not it was just floating in the middle of the harbor looking ready to depart. The lamp from before was a security light and the supposed 'room' he was in was a container and that handle it seems _was _a door out of there.

He facepalmed in embarrassment, glad no one was here to see his misjudgement, but he quickly regained himself, he didn't have time for childish games and looked over to a cord that secured the container where it was, he made his was over and climbed down the cord past four containers, then bolted to where he saw the bridge was, he thought quickly, assessing this new development, he was in the open still in shackles and with no weapon and had no way of leaving the ship, unless he got a lifeboat, he couldn't swim with the damned shackles still on him, at the very least he'd like a way to break the chains of the damn cuffs, that way he'd at least be able to move better. He didn't have time to think further into it when he saw a light approaching from around the corner of the cramped space he currently stood in, he was not going to be caught again after he just escaped, it'd ruin his already poor mood.

Instead of retreating he quickly approached the corner where he saw the light approaching from, he didn't have to worry about anyone hearing him, what with the storm covering all his movements, and pressed up against the container he was at and waited… and there he was a man wearing a uniform of some kind came around the corner, it wasn't a military uniform but a company uniform instead.

thinking quickly Ichika slammed his bulky cuffs and fist into the man's crotch, when he doubled over in reaction to the pain he brought the chain on his cuffs around his neck twisting the dazed man into a choke hold in a kneeling position, then using every ounce of strength in his body he could muster, he drew back fast and hard, the man had no way to support himself and was completely vulnerable to Ichika, he couldn't stand with the combined weight of Ichika's own body as well as the cuffs that held him, it didn't help this was all done by surprise.

After a minute of desperate scrambling he eventually fell to the ground in a cold heap, all fight leaving his body, Ichika silently thanked both his sister's as well as every book he read about the human anatomy, he was only able to knock out bullies with this, but he never tried it in a life threatening situation like so, he did it to many children and maybe a few adults, but now it may have just saved his life, he lowered the man to the ground, quickly pulling his chains away from his bruised neck and searched the man's body for anything useful, like a key to his cuffs. 'That'd help immensely.' thought Ichika.

Though there was no luck in finding said key, he did get a small maintenance light, a keycard, several keys that seem to open anything but his cuffs, a lighter, a butterfly knife, and a company radio. He couldn't carry everything himself so he went back to the man and immediately latched onto his oversized jacket, as he pulled it off to observed it, it was a simple brown zip up jacket with a hood, it was twice his size so he wouldn't be able to move comfortably unless he made… 'Improvements'... after a few minute to himself he made the jacket fit him a little more comfortably, he had trouble getting the cuffs through the sleeves but he did it with otherwise no trouble at all (how he do dat?), he had made it more comfortable by cutting off unneeded extensions as to fit his small form better, he kept the scraps he cut away just in case, you never know after all…

Stuffing everything he could into the various pockets he had and putting the hood over his head to keep the rain from hitting his face, he set out in the direction the man came from, not bothering to hide the body, as he went he made sure the radio he had was turned down, he was not going to be compromised by ear-rape noises from a shitty speaker (I blame bad Vines) he clipped the radio to the utility jacket and held the quite small butterfly knife close to his body, he doubted it could kill anyone but it calmed his rapidly beating heart, yes, even after beating a man into submission with ironically the weapons that were supposed to hinder him, he was still afraid, but he continued to push forward, that's what bravery is after all.

Left, right, right, left, right, left up a little, aaand crossroads… this place was quite big, unnervingly so, he felt like he was in a maze, with no end in sight, he wasn't even sure which he way the bridge was anymore… he observed his surroundings for anything helpful once more, there were various sizes and colors of the cargo container maze he currently walked through nothing but metal, the storm as strong as it had been since it first kissed his skin, and oh so dark, he didn't dare use the flashlight lest it give his position away to his captors.

This kept up for quite some time, him wandering around the maze of containers until finally he found a large bundle of electricity cables at his feet, perfect, now all he had to do was follow them and perhaps find a maintenance line to follow back to the bridge, that was roughly the plan anyway, he didn't have anything better to do at the moment… eventually he found himself at another set of container doors, the line going through them apparently, he didn't even think about what might be within the cargo containers… shrugging, he pushed through the container full of… rubber duckies… is this really what was inside a ship of kidnappers? How absurd, and simply silly, shaking his head and pushing the door that sat on the other side of the container, he was met with the bridge itself, completely lit up, white metal, with the english words high above stating the usual 'NO SMOKING' sign, though usually those sat on oil tankers, he supposed it didn't matter to him, he was simply a boy after all, he didn't have to worry about grown up stuff until… well… he grew up!

He made sure the coast was clear before sprinting over to the door that sat not far away and yanked it open, darting in, then slamming it shut with a sigh of relief, the hallway was well lit up, the lamps swaying ever so slightly, almost unnoticeably so, the hall was short and to the point next to a set of stairs that led up and down the ship, there were pipes here and there of various colors, the floor looked like a factory floor, an ugly brown, but the walls were all white like a lab, doors left and right going into many labeled room, though labeled mostly in english.

This was going to be a headache, now that he was in the bridge he had no idea how to proceed, should he follow the hallways still, perhaps go up or down the stairs… decisions decisions, he could always go back to that maze that's already wasted his time for the past… forty-five minutes perhaps? "Ugh, so frustrating, okay, must make a plan, gotta decide… radio room would help, I could… no, no one would believe me, perhaps they'd believe it was a prank, I can't just say, 'Hi, I'm Ichika Orimura, little brother of Chifuyu Orimura, and I'm currently on an unknown container ship, in an unknown harbour, with unknown people with unknown motives'… yeah… I don't even know where the radio room is. And even when I find one I refuse to call Onee-chan and cost her the win in the Mondo Grosso, heck, that might be exactly what they kidnapped me for, for her to forfeit the win, I won't be the reason that she loses…"

While he had his little monologue out loud he had been wandering the halls the entire time, already lost within the behemoth once again… but it wasn't long until he walked into a container room below deck containing a very alarming sight, he had walked into a room where he heard voices, one voice was smug and sounded quite old, it was obviously a man's voice, the other sounded like it was distorted in some way, though not in a bad way, more like it was from a communicator of some kind, he crept closer, to the voices and cautiously looked in between a set of crates, then he eavesdropped.

"-nd you sound awfully sure of yourself Brunhilde, perhaps you have misheard me, let me spell it out for you again: I have your siblings as my hostages, and I am fully willing to pull the trigger to end both of their lives, if you fail to forfeit the championship, then they will undoubtedly die from your arrogance." said the man, he sounded smug, and there was more than a hint of annoyance in his voice, then Chifuyu responded unexpectedly in an unusually cold hearted tone.

"I heard you the first time snob, it is truly disappointing that they'd be kidnapped so easily, perhaps this was a long time coming for them, especially my brother, this should teach him to stop being so dependant on me like he always is, self-reliance is something I had to learn at an early age, I'm not going to save them, if they wish to escape they must do so on their own." she finished in a humor filled tone, this made Ichika wince in hurt. 'Is this really what Chifuyu-nee thinks of me, being entirely dependant on her?… surely she's bluffing… right?' No, he didn't have time for this, he started to sneak away when he started to hear the man yelling angrily at his sister…

No, something else caught his attention in that conversation, apparently they captured Madoka as well, he wasn't going to leave her, there was no way in hell that he was going to leave his twin behind, no matter what. He almost completely departed when he heard the man slam an angered fist into the table he stood at, and he listened to what he had to say. "That slut! How dare she hang up on me, I'll show her, you! Get the girl right now! I'm going to fucking blow her brains out, that'll show the bitch." yelled the man at an unseen subordinate, the subordinate replied with a question: "Why not the boy?" and the first man replied with "She obviously cares a great deal less about the boy, besides, someone else is already bringing him here… though he is running late…" he shook his head, then after a moment of silence he glared. "Don't just stand there you buffoon, get the brat right fucking now, we're on the clock you know!" the second man scrambled to obey, when Ichika heard him coming his way he himself followed his example and scrambled between an opening between some crates, when the man passed, Ichika wasn't far behind, this man was going towards Madoka after all, if he understood correctly, and Ichika was also looking for Madoka, might as well deal with the deck he was dealt.

The man was apparently in a hurry, Ichika almost lost him multiple times but he was a stubborn and clever child and found him easily again without too much trouble, luckily they were close to where she was, after going down many flights of stairs the man went to a small closet looking area, pulling out a set of keys, thinking this was likely the place Ichika jumped from a conveniently placed set of boxes and lunged for the mans back, Ichika threw his arms above the man's head, wrapping the chain around his neck. The force and momentum from the jump as well as Ichika's weighty surprise attack, caused the man slam into the iron door supposedly containing his sister, cracking the view port with his face and falling unconscious almost instantly.

Ichika honestly thought he'd have to suffocate him just like the first guy, but decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth, the key was already inside the lock, he gave the key a careful turn that unlocked the door, and was immediately greeted by darkness, wasting no time he searched for a light switch and flicked it on. After a few moments of looking around he saw her, his poor poor Madoka was suspended from a wall on the far end of the iron closet, she looked like she's been crying for hours, and he could hear her pitiful sobs, Ichika couldn't bare the sight and quickly hobbled over to her, this wasn't the usual Madoka he looked after, the usual Madoka was a spunky spirit… a girl that never cried. "Madoka I'm here, don't worry everything's gonna be completely fine now." he continued to say sweet things to her without pause, while quickly cutting away at her ropes with the butterfly knife he had yet to sheathe, as soon as she was freed she threw herself into his arms, crying softly into his shoulder, he patted her back in a soothing manner, whispering sweet nothings into her ear.

"Let's go home, I can't stand being here anymore..." she quietly stated after a few minutes of calming down thanks to Ichika, thankfully she seemed to be much more composed and allowed her expression to return to it's usual glare. "Well? What're we waiting for? Let's get the hell out of here Twerp." yep, back to her somewhat usual self, he nodded with false confidence and told her of his non-existent plan of escaping, after hearing said plan she was hesitant, although she was the one to usually make the plans, she quickly put trust into the only one who had never steered her wrong, never lied, never lost, she trusted him and him alone with her life… he always put her before himself, so she decided to cooperate with him always, even if she was afraid or believed she'd be a better leader or that they'd somehow fail, as long as he was there everything would be fine, she was sure of it.

And so he winged it, he didn't have a real plan, but as long as he had her fooled and feeling safe he felt at ease, he couldn't bear to see her afraid and unsure of herself, usually she was confident and strong and never needed his support, but right now she needed his support, she needed a plan, and someone to confide in this unfamiliar situation, he was never kidnapped before so he wasn't entirely sure what he was going to do, but he needed to keep his confident facade for her sake.

After multiple flights of stairs and a few hallways he finally made it back to where the angry screaming man was previously, upon entry he noticed he wasn't there, the plan Ichika told Madoka was that they'd contact someone to rescue them, like Tabane-nee or something he didn't mention Chifuyu for her sake, after all Madoka despised Chifuyu for an unknown reason, after multiple attempt at trying and failing to contact Tabane-nee and eventually even Chifuyu-nee he started to contact the police when the man from before walked in: "Hey, what do you think your doing little brat! Where the fuck are my boys?" as he spoke he started to approach with his gun drawn, pointing it threateningly at Ichika, each step he took spelled doom for the boy, Madoka was frozen stiff in fear at the sight of the gun, Ichika was the only one who could bail them from this situation.

When the man was less than three feet away Ichika picked up a coffee cup from the table and spilled the steaming contents on the man's face, weather he was screaming in rage or agony didn't matter to the Orimura boy, taking advantage of the moment Ichika climb onto the table and tackled the man, the man fell easily, surprised that the boy was putting up such a fight so easily, unfortunately he quickly retaliated by pulling his gun up to Ichika who was right above him, Ichika noticed the movement and had one hand firmly grip his wrist while the other was on the man's gun, with one finger where the trigger sat.

After a minute of struggling Ichika finally got the gun to point at the man's head, switched the safety off, and finally blew his brains out, the shot was deafening and shook Madoka out of her paralyzed state, while Ichika just sat on the now noticeably fat man's chest… he was covered in sweat and shaking uncontrollably, panting heavily… he had just killed this man, this man that had kidnapped them and planned to kill him and his sister for a stupid championship… Ichika had experienced his first kill at the age of eight(8) years old while kidnapped to protect himself and his sister… and he had no idea how to feel about it, there wasn't any guilt for sure, he didn't feel angry or sad, not even happy… just…

Empty…

While he sat there in a dazed state covered in the man's blood that now ran down his face, Madoka went to a TV that sat near the table he leaped from, apparently she was curious about the Mondo Grosso as well, as soon as she turned on the TV it went immediately to the Live Broadcast currently watching his sister's match, hearing the ruckus Ichika somewhat snapped his gaze away from the corpse he still sat on, he stood up and sat down in a heap on a chair near Madoka, holding the gun that he killed fatty with, Madoka followed his example and sat on the chair next to him, looking and feeling annoyed, like they completely forgot that they were kidnapped at the moment.

What he saw… made him feel so many emotions that he previously was empty of, he saw Chifuyu delivering her finishing move in her IS… and she looked so happy, if he wasn't currently kidnapped he would have cheered for her… but at this moment he felt many emotions and thoughts run through him, he felt joy that she had won once again, anger that she seemed so happy while he was trapped in this nightmare even after he had just killed someone for the first time in his life and had no one to comfort him, but most noticeable was sadness… he was so sad that she was happy without him… he remembered the way she spoke about him to the fat man, she sounded careless and disappointed… and assumed she was careless when it came to him, and that she was disappointed in his weakness… even after hearing that her only family was kidnapped and that they'd die unless she forfeit, she continued to fight in the Mondo Grosso with that knowledge… did she truly care for him? The joy and anger burned away, being trampled by shame and guilt and so, so much sadness, he felt his heart tighten and tears threaten to spill.

He tore his gaze away reluctantly to stare at the gun in his hands, when he heard the door open and someone walk in, he shot the gun from its resting spot from his knee and shot exactly where he knew the door was without looking, the man that stood in front of the door fell with a cry of pain, yelling curses, without hesitation Ichika stood, walking calmly towards the man he shot, when he was in front of the man he watched as he brought his gun up to kill Ichika, Ichika didn't hesitate to fire into the man's wrist, it wasn't hard considering the distance. The gun dropped and the man started screaming while throwing insults at the boy, Ichika pointed the gun at the man's head and spoke in an unsettlingly calm tone: "Where on this ship can I find a working IS? If you cooperate I will not have to hurt you like I did your boss there." the man looked confused when the boy said this, he looked behind the boy and saw that, indeed, his boss lay in a bloody heap on the floor.

Ichika was on autopilot, an autopilot of what no one knows, he seemed so calm about killing someone just now, and even used the gun like he had it his whole life, and when he spoke it unnerved the man, this was a child they kidnapped isn't it? not some kind of child soldier right? The man decided to take a gamble just this once to the boy, not like the kid can use an IS anyway so why hide the information "There are a few IS stationed on the roof of the ship, what's it matter to you?" the man answered clutching his wounds, upon hearing what he said Ichika paused, why _did_ he want to know that? Then he remembered he had Madoka with him, after a minute of thought he was about to lower his gun when the man lurched for his previously dropped gun, Ichika had no choice but to quickly end his life, by shooting him right in the head, he made sure it was quick, there was no need to make the man suffer, he was just a grunt and he had no time for games.

He grabbed the dropped gun and turned to look at the horrified looking Madoka. "C'mon Madoka, we must escape if we want to celebrate with Chifuyu-nee on her second win…" Ichika said shakily, it seems the weight of killing people was starting to catch up on him already, he wouldn't give it the chance right now, he had to keep the adrenaline pumping. "You just killed him, you said you'd let him live…" Madoka looked unsure of what she were saying, she couldn't believe the kind and gentle brother of hers had just killed someone right in front of her, twice, and didn't even seem bothered by his actions in the least.

"I know, but I can't let that bother me right now, the only thing that matters is keeping you safe Madoka, and even if it kills me, I'll do it, your too important to me, if I gave that man a chance to live he would have hurt us, he would have hurt you… I won't let that happen Madoka, I love you too much." at his words made her unsure feelings turn warm and happy, her heart beat painfully in her chest at his words, and her face flushed… Madoka Orimura was embarrassed.

She didn't have time to process this however when Ichika presented her with one of the pistols he had taken' when she was about to refuse he gave her a pleading look, and said that just in case if she absolutely has to, that she didn't have to use it but it would ease his worry for her, she looked into her murdering brother's eyes and gave a soft sigh and snatched it from his grip. He smiled brightly at her and gave her a look of relief before he motioned for her to follow him, leaving no room to argue.

After a few minutes of walking silently, not counting Ichika's chains rustling the whole way, and soon they were at the top of the stairs, now they just had to climb the ladder leading up, climbing the ladder Ichika opened the hatch without hesitation, when the hatch opened he immediately noticed a change in scenery, for one thing it looked like it was early in the morning, the storm hadn't calmed one bit, but most noticeable of all… they weren't in the harbor anymore, he could only barely make out that Japan was a somewhere off in the distance behind them, he looked around the roof and noticed a few IS… currently being piloted.

"Fuck." Ichika stated the obvious, unfortunately the pilots heard, and upon seeing him, they immediately opened fire without hesitation, Ichika dropped back down through the hatch pulling his twin with him and covering her fall, when they landed Ichika let out a yell of pain when he fell, but quickly recovered and stood up and shouted at Madoka to hurry up and run, they were lucky they moved when they did or they'd be dead, the spot they were previously was full of bullet holes, Ichika didn't even bother returning fire, he knew that small arms fire was useless against an IS unit, after a few minutes of running for their lives, and Ichika repeatedly having to save Madoka from death they found themselves emerging from a lower deck of the ship and appearing back in the container maze, he doesn't know how long they did this benny hill bullshit but somewhere along the line the storm, combined with the IS pilot relentlessly hunting them down got the ship to catch fire, apparently there really was a real reason to have a 'NO SMOKING' sign on the ship, many of the stray bullets caused many things to combust or otherwise explode, now most of the ship was on fire.

There was smoke everywhere, the fire was nipping at their heels, and bullets were flying over their heads, Madoka was shivering furiously, the only thing keeping her moving was fear, adrenaline and bravery, as showed as an example by none other than her twin at the moment, they were surrounded, Ichika returned fire to a few men to were still lurking around with rifles and pistols, in one direction was a fire they had no hope of making it through, in the other were men and women they also had no chance of making it through, no, he wouldn't give them the satisfaction of killing them, Ichika grabbed Madoka's hand and rushed around the fires going through the occasional container until finally, they were trapped.

"Dammit… c-c'mon, we can make it out of this, let's just go back through those container's a-and maybe uh… w-we'll figure it out..." Madoka clutching tightly to her gun, shaking from the adrenaline pumping, as well as clutching at Ichika's arm, Ichika knew she was trying to be brave for his sake, he was too, but he couldn't let that slow him down, there was only one thing he could do at this moment, he turned to his twin and spoke words that would haunt her for the rest of her life: "I know… so in order for you to live, I will be the one that must die."

She looked mortified at his words. "I-Ichika? Stop talking nonsense… we'll find a way out of here… together!" he shook his head sadly and continued. "Madoka, even if we escape this fire, I cannot pilot an IS, and you are in no condition to fly either, even if we escape the monsters that kidnapped us I cannot swim, these chains will pull me down to my death no matter how hard I fight… but just because I will die, that doesn't mean you will too… you aren't bound by chains like I am, you can fly and be free, while I remained a chained for your sake, you will live and I'll follow through with my promise…" she interrupted him. "Shut up twerp! we can find a lifeboat and leave together so just hang on!" she looked around frantically in hopes to find some way for them to both live, but he merely shook his head sadly, grabbing a life vest that hung on a hook nearby and putting her into it while she was distracted. "Even if we find a lifeboat that's not already deployed these people will just capture us again and kill us… please live for me Madoka, I love you… I'm sorry!" he finished strapping her into the vest. "I-ichika? What are you doing? No! STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! You can't do this! Ichika! Ichika!?" he gave her a hug and a loving kiss to her forehead before he tossed her through the fire that previously obscured their vision to an open gate that lead into the ocean below… but just because he couldn't see her, didn't mean he wouldn't hear her last cry of despair: "ICHIKAAAAAA!~"

The last thing she remembered of her beloved twin brother was his sad smile before he was engulfed in flames and an explosion that she was positive must have killed him. As she fell down into the ocean below the ship only one thought ran through her head, the thought was the embodiment of denial: 'No, he didn't just sacrifice himself so that I would live… he… he can't be dead… I was never able to tell him how I… never tell him… _oh please, no…_' when she hit the water she looked for a way to get back onto the ship, but before she knew it the ship had left her behind. Even with the chaos currently surrounding the ship, it was still moving with purpose, and propeller's urging the ship onwards at speeds she couldn't hope to keep pace with.

"No! STOP!~ ICHIKA! I… I wasn't ever able to tell you how I felt… no… M-maybe he'll be okay…" she tried to rationalize, as she watched the ship get further and further away she started to regret the way she had treated him… whenever she hit him or yelled at him he always rationalized it as tough love, no matter how many times she cut him, no matter how many broken bones, no matter how many times she declared her hate for him he never stopped loving her… she believed it was just him putting up a tough facade, but one day, when she was being gained up on by a few of their senpais from the kendo club, he was right around the corner… and hadn't allowed a single hit to touch her… at that point she always hid her feelings by acting rashly, pretending to hate him, even when they were inseparable, she always acted like she hated him, no more beating him to near death… but she never once showed she loved or cared for him… just like Chifuyu… she had to keep swimming, to be close when he escapes, to tell him how much she really appreciated him.

After a few minutes of swimming and thinking of a way to… 'show her love.' to him, she saw something that has traumatized her ever since, the ship was engulfed in fire, before being obliterated from somewhere inside… she watched helplessly as it sunk down into the unforgiving ocean floor, the unknown vessel, the unknown organization that kidnapped her twin and herself, and the unknown-_no_\- the known fate of her heroically selfless brother that had sacrificed himself and gotten revenge on those people for doing those terrible and unforgivable things to them… it was too much for her to handle.

'I… lost my chance… I never even said goodbye…'

0-0-0-0-0

"Ichika…" Madoka's eyes filled with tears as she saw the last trace of the ship that was responsible for her brother's unforgivable fate, she slipped unconscious from grief and exhaustion and was later picked up by a patrol boat going to investigate an SOS from a cargo ship just a few miles away from the harbor it had departed from them only a few hours ago, after an extended investigation and endless searching around the sight, Madoka was declared to be the sole survivor.

Currently she is being escorted home by the Gotanda family father, Ran and Dan's parents who were in charge of looking after them until Chifuyu returned. "Are you okay Madoka? Don't worry, I'm sure your siblings won't be mad at you for being in trouble, it's probably just a misunderstanding." tried to comfort Dan who misunderstood why they were taking her home from the police station of all places. "Yeah, knowing Ichika he'll probably just smile and laugh saying that it wasn't your fault." continued Ran who had no idea about the weight her words carried, Madoka said something under her breathe that the other siblings didn't catch, when they asked her to repeat a little louder she complied.

"I said… I said he's dead…" the other siblings looked uneasy and felt disbelief when she continued. "That's why I'm being taken home now, me and Ichika were kidnapped yesterday… when we tried to escape he… he..." Madoka almost broke down in that moment, but kept it all in, she didn't snap at the two, she didn't sound cold, besides Ichika, Ran, Dan and Rin could barely be counted as friends but she knew Ichika and them were close so she thought they deserved to know, when they pulled up to the front of her house she turned to them as said one last thing before she went inside. "Can… can you go tell Rin for me… I… I need to be alone right now…" when they heard her request they nodded quietly, still unsure of this horrible news presented to them, before she nodded back to them then went back inside to mourn her other half.

After a few days of an uneasy silence surrounding the area from hearing the news about how one of the sweetest and most helpful neighborhood kids had passed on, the eldest Orimura returned to the house slightly irritated, she returned back to the house slightly earlier than she'd have liked, though on the phone she was told it was an emergency concerning Ichika, she didn't even bother calling their neighbors as she wasn't really... social per se when it came to other people, when she approached she was surprised to see that Madoka decided to greet her, she was caught off guard both because Madoka never greets her home, and because when she is anywhere near Chifuyu she'd constantly scowl and snarl, instead Madoka looked like she was running on raw will power, when Chifuyu got close enough Madoka started shaking uncontrollably and started to break down quickly throwing herself into Chifuyu with open arms.

Chifuyu was surprised, at first thinking that Madoka was bursting with joy… until she spoke "Chifuyu huhuhu~! I-Ichika…" her grip tightened onto the elder sister, Chifuyu was quick to comfort the younger sibling she was usually on bad terms with.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?... and where's Ichika?" for a moment she thought Ichika might have been the reason she was crying, then as quickly as it came she brushed that thought aside, Ichika would never hurt Madoka, or anyone for that matter.

"He… _He's Dead!~_" Madoka wailed, completely catching the elder sibling off-guard. "W-we were kidnapped a-and we got s-s-separated and later he came back and saved me, h-he k-killed some of them a-and then there was a fire… and then an explosion… he _Protected me_… he's de-he-he-" she wasn't able to finished her recalling as she had completely lost it, burying her head into Chifuyu's chest seeking comfort in her only remaining family member.

Chifuyu Orimura was unamused and moved inside with Madoka, believing this to be some stupid elaborate joke, when she set Madoka on the couch, and stood up straight. "Ichika!~" she called into the house, Madoka decided that if Chifuyu wasn't going to believe her, she could see for herself, after a few more attempts of calling Ichika she got frustrated and started heading up the stairs, checking every single room, bathroom, closet, her room Ichika's and Madoka's room, even the addict she went down stairs and repeated the process, as time went on her heart started dropping and her mind raced furiously. 'No, that was just a stupid bluff… there's no way they were actually… oh god…' instead of checking with the neighbors she frantically called Tabane-nee to see if she could figure out where Ichika was, she was not prepared to be greeted by a very not Tabane sounding… _Tabane..._

"H-hi Chifuyu… congratulations on your second win in a row…*Sniff* you did… really good…" Tabane sounded not only normal, but _Sad_ she never does that… something was seriously up. "What's wrong Tabane? Did one of your experiments mess up again? Upon saying this Tabane spoke without a doubt in her tone: "Yeah… it's the biggest failure that's ever happened… I didn't expect it to turn out like… like _That…_ I'm sorry Chi-Chan… I need to be alone right now… rethink how I do things… and who I hang out with." the last part was said under Tabane's breath, and it was filled with so much disappointment, so much regret that for a moment Chifuyu considered the fact that she might not be speaking to Tabane at all… it was then realization finally hit her. 'Oh god… do… are they saying Ichika's dead?…' if only everyone knew the truth of the fate of the Male Twin.

0-0-0-0-0

(Meanwhile…)

Ichika was currently washed up on a beach somewhere, passed out, after a few minutes of laying there he started to stirr. 'Where am I?' was the first thought that ran through the young boys head when he woke up, he quickly sat up after recalling what happened before he passed out, after throwing Madoka overboard he rushed somewhere below deck and and made an important piece of equipment catch fire, the fire quickly spread from below deck before getting into multiple fuel tanks and engine rooms, causing the ship to be engulfed in an explosion that would have surely killed him… 'Wait… shouldn't I be dead right now?' realization dawned upon him that he should indeed be dead…

'Then how'd I survive… ugh, I suppose that's unimportant, right now all that matters is that I am indeed alive and well… now I just need to figure out where I am…' with a plan in mind, Ichika stood, albeit shakily, and walked along the beach, the ocean to his right, and the sand at his feet, with the jungle to his left… "_JUNGLE?_ Where the hell am I really at?"... the poor boy seems to have short-circuited… after a while of walking and trying to rationalize his endeavor, he came across a truly unexpected sight, just up ahead was a lifeboat being surrounded by a pack of Hyenas, after a few minutes of watching them, it seems the lifeboat was too high for them to infiltrate, unfortunately there didn't seem to be a way around the Hyenas onto the lifeboat for shelter or supplies, possibility of survivors is unknown.

He didn't want to risk grabbing their attention and becoming their next meal, if there was one, maybe he could take it, but he couldn't take… fourteen, there were fourteen Hyenas and not a single one has noticed him, he decided not to push his luck and quickly retreated back where he came from, as he retreated he decided to take in his surroundings, the ocean was a beautiful azure blue, the sky being much clearer, no sign of any storms any time soon, though he would be sure to find shelter anyway, the air felt fresh, so much different from where he lived, the cool breeze that kissed him and his clothes, the jungle looked a particularly bright shade of green, and the sounds felt so soothing, the birds chirping, the splashing of the wind on the shoreline… it looked and felt like paradise.

He was interrupted by the sound of his stomach grumbling in complaint, obviously not as appreciative of the sight of his surrounding like he was… shaking his head in slight amusement he decided to take inventory.

(Inventory list)

1 Flashlight

1 Knife

6 Cut Rags

1 Company Radio

1 Pistol

3 Pistol Mags

1 Lighter

1 Keycard

He doesn't have much, the rags he can make into bandages if he needs to, the pistol was miraculously still in working order, so were the mags, does that mean his jacket was waterproof? Apparently it does as the flashlight might not be waterproof, it was also inside his zip pockets, unfortunately the company radio wasn't small enough to fit inside his pockets, after checking it over it seems he can't call for help with it, but it does seem to work as he is able to tune into frequencies… that's a relief, it also means the batteries aren't fucked either… either the radio isn't waterproof and only damaged the mic, or it is waterproof and it got banged up along the great escape from the kidnapper's ship.

He also still had a lighter which would definitely be useful… and finally the useless keycard… he never did think of actually using it, aside from unlocking a few locked door's… it was a bit disappointing if he were honest, he decided that this card was still going to be useful somehow in some way, shape or form, then promptly stuffed it to the bottom of his shoe for a later date.

He looked himself over once again, the chains and cuffs still clutching onto him for dear life even the one around his neck, he was surprised his neck wasn't broken by now, unfortunately his collar was connected to the chain keeping his wrists together, but not his ankles, his ankles chain was far apart enough for him to lightly jog but that's about it… it was a pain in the ass when he tried to escape, he kept tripping over himself, also they were still quite heavy, each individual cuff felt like Chifuyu-nee's bokken+2, he was pleasantly surprised he was still moving even with these weights stuck to his body… but he'd still at the very least like to eradicate this chain as to let him move more fluently when in a confrontation, although they were a help in the past, they were still obstacles stuck to his body that he didn't intend to kept any longer. Upon closer inspection of the chains, he noticed they were a dark black color, reminding him of Ebony, but what really got his attention was the pulsing Red lines that certainly weren't there before…

"Ebony Shackles huh?" he asked out loud, obviously to himself… he wondered who put them on him anyway, if he was being completely honest they had actually grown on him since they were first found and he first woke up with them on… he realized if he didn't actually have these shackles he'd likely be dead, them being used as weapons to take down his wardens, then seemingly suddenly tightening when he's about to get shot to death, causing him to trip and accidentally dodge… he owed his life to these shackles… and after a while he wasn't so sure he wanted to remove them now.

Now that he thought deeper into it… he remembered being able to spread his arms and legs wider now than before, even when he was running with Madoka he was actually able to _Sprint_, not_ Jog_, and whenever he had to attack someone the chains seemed to shrink or the cuffs would get heavier or lighter depending on the situation… 'Heeey… did these cuffs purposefully trip me when I was about to get shot…?' after a moment of serious thought. . . he laughed, he laughed so hard he was sure his sides already hurt, he laughed because it hurt so much, was he already thinking that these damned things suddenly have a consciousness and had _saved him multiple times_. . . how pathetic of him.

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

*Smooch* In his moment of weakness and vulnerability, he confided in his prison the only way he knew how to, he closed his eyes in a show of surrender. leaned his head into his cuffs, and kissed them firmly where the locks would be. "Thank you." he whispered. And he meant it, he knew that without his mobile prison guard he'd no doubt be dead before he even started… he doesn't know how long these cuffs have been stuck to him, and he doesn't know how else it may have helped him, he didn't know if these cuffs could hear him, he didn't know if it could feel him, or even see him, or how much longer they'll be stuck to him… but he knew for absolutely sure that he didn't want them coming off any time soon, maybe the chains, but they might be his cuffs only tools to keep him safe, as strange as it sounds, he wasn't ever going to dispose of these cuffs…

"I won't let you go… Ebby… you don't mind me calling you Ebby for short do you?" at the moment his eyes were closed, so he didn't see the bright red pulse rush through his cuffs, and a warm and comfortable feeling that ran through him, though even if he did, he probably wouldn't believe his eyes and chock it up to his hunger getting revenge on him. He was going to treat these cuffs as his best friend or better yet, family, just like in that one movie where that American had a friend called 'Wilson'... or was it a Frenchman… was it even a man at all? In this day and age girls were the star's of everything now… ugh, it doesn't matter, all that mattered to Ichika was that he wasn't alone at the moment, he had his current best friend right here, right now.

He gave his cuffs, or 'Ebby' an appreciative pat, then stood up and at attention, after all, he might be here awhile… so first things first: Food… after a few minutes of searching he came across a tree that housed a cliche tropical food… coconut… he was definitely going to use it to bath as well, might be nice smelling like coconuts… then again, it might be best not leaving a scent behind with the current situation, bummer… after collecting some coconuts he found a few berry bushes… though he didn't know to tell the good ones from the poisonous ones… he decided to grab them indifferently and test them out later by using traps, then he'll know the good ones from the bad ones… after that he wandered around and found a patch of trees that nearly made his eyes pop out of his head, it was a patch of mango trees, and they looked so, so good… he climbed up with great difficulty and collected a small handful, then went back towards the beach.

Now that he had his fill of mangos he had to find shelter… it didn't take him long to see a bent over tree with leaves making a makeshift roof over a small patch of soft dirt, he wasted no time in digging up the soft dirt and making a trench hut… he decided this was only temporary, as it wasn't nearly good enough to keep him safe…

(Inventory list)

1 Flashlight

1 Knife

4 Cut Rags

1 Company Radio

1 Pistol

3 Pistol Mags

1 Lighter

1 Keycard

4 Mango's

27 Blueberries

5 Coconuts

2 Makeshift Bandages

18 Small Sticks

6 Small Rocks

Currently he didn't wanna bother breaking his skull trying to open a coconut, he made two of the spare rags into bandages, and around the immediate area plenty of rocks and sticks he decided to collect… one thing that got Ichika slightly baffled was that he didn't find a wallet or phone in the jacket he took, but that mystery was quickly solved when he rationalized that it could have been in his pants pocket… except he searched those pockets too… "Meh, doesn't matter now anyway."

He thought about that life boat that was surrounded by Hyenas… and for some reason he was filled with anxiety for multiple reasons, one was that there must be a lot of amazing supplies on board, another was for that being a great shelter to be housed at, as long as he added defences of course… but there was the little though in the back of his head full of 'what if…' what if there were survivors perhaps, sure they were the people that kidnapped him… and they were surrounded by hyenas… that didn't sit right with him, the more he thought about it the more sure of himself he was, why else would hyenas surround that damn thing? Likely because they smell _Prey_, dammit, he wasn't like those people, he can't leave them there like that when he could do _something, anything at all_…

So he decided, he was gonna help whoever was onboard that little lifeboat even if it killed him, and it likely will, many would call him a fool others would call him dramatic… but a select few people would call him brave, after all, being able to do what you believe in even if your afraid is what bravery is right? He may regret this, this may indeed be his last good deed ever… he stood up, his mind made, and his destination set, he quickly unloaded what he didn't need on his body and took what seemed to be essential, that would be the gun, the knife and the bandages (That he likely won't end up not using). Then he set out for the little rescue mission for whoever might be onboard…

A few minutes later he found himself where the lifeboat sat… it was all clawed up, obviously from the frustrated attempts of the Hyenas, apparently most had given up and there were only four left, he wanted all of their attention, he pulled out his small knife, even though it wasn't very likely to kill them, perhaps it'd cut them up enough to feel threatened and retreat, before he could even have seconds thoughts, two had already noticed his presence and quickly got into attack formations, they let each out a small yip to the other half of their small party of their newfound interest… this was the beginning of Ichika's new life…

**0-0-0-0-0**

_**(New-A/N: Meet old (but improving) me, I'm gonna try not to change anything I typed, as it has sentimental value to me… even if it's embarrassing. -_-')**_

0-0-0-0-0

_(Old-A/N: welp, here is what I have atm, I'll try to fill in the blanks more and improve my rusty typing skills, if anyone is wondering this will definitely be a large harem story… Maybe, but there also might be incest… there will definitely be incest… some of the characters are OOC IK IK but dammit, I like AU's so damn much, it's just me I think but I… great I'm ranting, if you don't like don't read this is just the first chapter of many more to come, if any of you are wondering no I'm not likely to finish the Gravity falls fanfictions._

_those were just Beta's for this story truth be told, so I might end up obliterating them, no matter how much work I did, there will always be more to come, after all, we may only progress if we move forward :D thank you guys and gals so so much for reading, be sure to Review and leaves your suggestions and opinions, I'm always reading, so without further adieu, ba-byeeeee!~)_

_(P.S.: the future OC's are all mine, I love them with all my heart even though they are likely to end up back round characters… *POP*)_


	2. Chapter 2

_**(A/N: This is a story I've worked on a long time ago, every few days I'll release a chapter (as they're all pre-made), but be warned, it's pretty crap honestly (and I didn't edit them very well), I've always wanted to release it, but I never got around to it… and eventually forgot about it.)**_

_**(Hopefully you'll see how I've come a long way from it's childishness writing by nature, please enjoy!)**_

_**(Who knows, maybe I'll come back and improve on these stories, there's a reason I decided to add the word 'rusty' y'know. ;3)**_

**0-0-0-0-0**

Four Hyenas… creepily enough they were all black and white, not tan whatsoever, the black on their coats was jet black, and the white like freshly fallen snow, they looked completely out of place here, hell, they don't even look like they'd fit in with a normal Hyena pack, they looked like they were crossbred with zebras or something, but also seemed unusually small even for Hyena standards, they barely came up to the eight year old Ichika's chest, perhaps they relied on pack number's instead of individual strength quantity over quality… that wasn't Ichika's way though, he valued quality… he could go on to name the reasons but decided against it, he just hopes he wasn't too late for whoever's inside the lifeboat, he could really use the company, he was only a child after all.

The first opponent lunged at him, in a surprisingly quiet manner, he wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't for Chifuyu-nee teaching him to always stay on high alert when alone, he may have failed during his kidnapping, but he would never let that happen unwillingly ever again, he reacted quickly tilting backwards while ducking low to the ground, then when the Hyena was just above him he sliced the underbelly starting at his… or rather _her_ jaw bone, he drove his blade as deep as he could into her flesh, until she completely sailed over, flipping in surprise from the counter attack.

Upon seeing his action the other's decided that was just luck, so another lunged at him from his left side, while Ichika came back up he grabbed a handful of sand with his free hand and through it at his second attacker's face in retaliation, then side-stepping the now sand covered predator, now the other two seemed to be ready for their own attacks, they decided to attack as a duo, on came from the back, while the other came from his right, though instead of lunging like the first two did, they seem to feel that herding him would be better, Ichika wouldn't give them the chance, he made sure his feet kept moving, kicking as much sand into the duo as the other two seem to decide to join their efforts, after a minute of getting nowhere, Ichika decided enough was enough.

He lunged at the closest Hyena in an attempt to surprise them and break their formation apart, he was rewarded when the Hyena instinctively attempted to run away, but Ichika wouldn't have any of it, he jumped onto the smaller Predator, bringing his chains around his neck, and pulled it close to his chest… he really didn't feel like hurting these guys, even though he already blinged them multiple times and already cut up a girl, he was quite tired already, so he tried doing something no one in their right mind would try in a million years.

He drew him close to his chest and started rubbing his… no no, this one was a girl as well, 'C'mon, is mother nature following humanity's example? ugh.' anywho, he rubbed her belly in a playful manner like someone would do to a dog of some sort, the Hyena stopped struggling after a few seconds and just seemed unsure on how to proceed, when he got her attention he started stroking her neck under her jaw, this would usually be very dangerous, but it seems the Hyena was still in a daze of uncertainty and confusion…

After a few seconds Ichika found her nerv point and applied pressure to it, just as she was about to start attacking him again, fortunately she never got the chance and was effectively knocked out thanks to Ichika's knock out method that he used on a few of the more violent neighborhood dogs, and occasional cat… he mentally thanked his friends and sister's for when they occasionally asked him for a massage, which he always was more than happy to do so, as well as the books he read about nervous systems, a small victory indeed.

Another one came in a desperate attempt to save his/her pack mate, but thanks to Ichika figuring out where a Hyenas pressure points were, he quickly dropped the Hyena he was holding and darted his hand to the second Hyenas neck, it was the same one as before, the first one that attacked him, the only one he ended up cutting. The last two had figured out they were unmatched and decided to retreat, leaving behind their sisters.

Ichika panted heavily in exhaustion, watching the retreating forms of the remaining Hyenas… deciding not to waste any time, he ran to the lifeboat, determined to have his efforts rewarded with_ Something_, he ran up the side using what little momentum he had and threw his chains around a hook on the top, then used what was left of his strength to climb up the chain and hoisted himself onto the boat… he found himself standing in front of a few people who looked ridiculously familier… yes indeed, these people were the ones who shot at he and Madoka when they reached the roof looking for an unused I.S. … well, two of them these two seemed to have lost their I.S.'s, or somehow severely damaged them, he looked closely at their appearances.

The first one was wearing a black pilot's suit, green being her secondary color, she had blonde hair and blue eyes, she didn't look much older than Chifuyu-nee, he guessed she was between twelve to fifteen, her leg seemed to be in bad shape… so does her torso, she was covered in blood… looking at the second girl, she had black hair and blue eyes, her suit was a replica of the first girl, except her green color was slightly darker jungle green she seemed to be the same age as the first girl… though she also looked to be in bad shape, covered in just as much blood as the first if not more, they looked like they cleaned up nice, they had a few used bandages wrapped around their open wounds… neither of them look like their in any shape to fight, Ichika knew this was the right thing to do… as soon as they saw him they were full of surprise, followed by fear, followed by anger shortly thereafter.

Before they'd make a movement they'd regret Ichika brought his pistol up pointing it at the one closer to him. ". . ." nobody moved, their fear came back full force, mixed with surprise, Ichika thought about how to proceed… these people are the reason he's here… though it seems they already paid for it… he didn't want to kill them, he didn't want to keep killing people, that's not how he wants to return home… no, when he returns home he will have only killed if there was nothing he could do whatsoever, with his decision made he lowered the gun, seeing as they all calmed down, and ejected the mag as a sign of good faith… though he kept one in the chamber, can't be too careful… "I'm sorry… I didn't expect anyone to be here." he lied, he knew full well people were here, that's the whole reason he was here in the first place, luckily they didn't know that.

They remained stone-faced, not showing any sign of relaxing or that they even understood him, they were shaking with emotion, he knew this situation was delicate, after all he was an eight year old boy they kidnapped and tried to kill, now he had the gun and they could do nothing but wait and watch… he assumed they must have spoke a different language, as he heard multiple languages besides japanese and even english from the now sunken ship.

He pointed at himself and tapped his chest. "I'm Ichika, Ichika Orimura, seeing as how I don't like formalities, just call me Ichika…" he kept his gun pointed upwards and used his free hand to point at them in a questioning manner, one looked hesitant and the other looked defiant but after a minute of silence the one behind the first girl, the one with black hair, she stated her name in a very flat tone "Zoe Emilia… Zoe…" the blonde girl looked flabbergasted, as if her companion had grown a second head, her response was to smack her in the head then motioned for her to give her name, when she refused to oblige her companion continued, instead pointing at the stubborn blonde girl. "Alice Black… Alice…" it seems we have each set off on our first steps of some kind of uneasy truce, after the exchange there was an awkward silence, they watched him expectantly.

Ichika hadn't honestly thought he wouldn't get this far, but Ichika was a quick thinker, so he gave them his biggest disarming smile… oh look, they appear to be quite surprised by his innoce-... or rather what was left of his innocence… he started to speak hopefully, they might not understand him, but he really wanted to be free of this awkward standoff . "You guys don't look like you're in good shape… is there anyone else with you? If not you won't survive out here for too long." still no indication that they understood, he looked around the lifeboat out of curiosity, after a few seconds of looking around he looked behind him where the front of the lifeboat was… it was an internal compartment, and apparently they didn't have the key, it was still shut with a bulky looking lock keeping it closed, he knew that in lifeboats there were usual basic survival equipment, such as first aid and a flare of some kind, as well as a survival kit… and some kind of preserved food that could last a while.

He turned back to the two girls to see if they made any sort of hostile movements, but they hadn't so much as moved a finger, he pointed out his finger in a questioning manner to the locked compartment. "Key? Do you have a key for that? I would like to see what's inside…?" He asked slowly, the girls looked at the lock with mild disinterest as if they didn't think anything important was inside. 'You've gotta be kidding me, they seriously have no idea how important that thing is do they?' hiding a look of disbelief, he looked back at said hatch, it appeared to be labeled in both Japanese and English… wait.

"Can either of you read either of those languages?" he asked hesitantly, afraid of their answer, as it turns out he was right to be afraid, as both of them continued to watch him expectantly, even after seeing the words on the wood, they didn't show any sign of recognition… what a pain. After a few awkward minutes, and finding a newfound depression slamming into him, he proceeded to the hatch, the hatch wasn't particularly small, it seemed to be a foot wide and a foot tall, the handle itself looked damaged somehow, but he couldn't place his finger on it.

Anywho, he was going to open this little box… the girls obviously had no key, and this could be a way for him to gain their trust… although that in and of itself will take a while… whatever, he could always shoot it open. But that could attract unwanted attention, he doubted his little knife would be of any use either, and he didn't have any of the key's he 'borrowed' as they were likely at the bottom of the ocean, he decided to inspect the lock a bit better. The lock itself was purely iron, and didn't look banged up in the least, another thing he noticed was that instead of a keyhole there was… a… key card… slot.

". . . I don't know how to feel about this, but I guess I'll settle for content." he said aloud as he pulled off one of his shoes and out came a keycard. 'Remember Ichika, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.' he looked back at the girls, it seems they've lost interest in him and decided to talk amongst themselves, even though it looked like they were having as much trouble communicating with each other as they were with him, he pulled his shoe back on and gave a loud whistle to catch their attention. "Hey, look, I think I can open it with this." they ignored him, he tried again and got the same silence as before… they definitely forgot he was there at all.

He sigh in rejection and turned to the lock, trying in various ways to open it… on his second try it opened with a *CLICK* and a *THUD*. This startled the girls out of their whisper's, but he decided to return the favor by ignoring them utterly, he opened the box to find it full of everything he expected and a few more, there were definitely flares, as well as a flare gun, there were even MRE's with the canned foods, though they weren't military based, it was still food, he also found a hatchet which he immediately latched onto, dropping the knife he had the entire time and replacing it was the far more useful tool, there were also life preservers, he could use them as body armor as he didn't need to swim anytime soon… at least he hoped so.

What remained inside was some rope, a few jackets, a few blankets (though no pillows) some water bottles and a gun. There were even a few mags, though they were a different calibre than his own pistol… he'll just leave it be for the time being, he dragged everything out of the little box he opened, the girl's first looked crestfallen, then angered. 'What? Mad 'cause a boy outsmarted the superior female?' he thought sarcastically, "See? There is good stuff in here!" he exclaimed in an almost gloating manner while pointing eagerly.

As if to prove his point he opened one of the MRE bags and started taking a few of the flavorless chips and munching to his heart's content, he made an exaggerated attempt at making a very satisfied looking face (Even though they tasted absolutely horrible in his opinion.) then stopped and asked: "You want some?" he spoke as he swallowed, then started grabbing more bags and stumbling over a little too quickly before tripping over the rope he left on the floor.

The supplies he had scattered all over the deck, most hitting the girls feet. He groaned and sat up, looking at the sky… it's gotten much darker out since he woke up… for the first time since he got here he felt really tired, noting how tired he was he stood up slowly, forgetting everything for a moment… he grabbed a sizable blanket and moved over to the girls, the girls were surprised when he slid between them and draped the blanket on all of their bodies before he wrapped his arms around them and fell asleep.

0-0-0-0-0

As Ichika stirred he heard light yips and yaps along with clawing on wood, he opened his eyes to find himself still between the girls, still with a blanket draped over them… but a specific missing item from his person, and that specific item was pressed against the side of his neck, he slowly looked over to the one known as Alice shakily holding Ichika's pistol and pointing it him while likely trying to steel herself to kill him, he didn't know why she didn't take the shot yet, but he knew if he waited any longer she would eventually lose her hesitation and kill him for sure.

"Erm… Miss Alice? Do you mind giving up on your original objective of killing me?" he asked her, looking hopeful, though he knew she wouldn't understand him, he still hoped to at least lower her nerves and disarm her as nonviolently as possible. It seemed to have somewhat work, though not as planned, instead she jumped in shock, not thinking he'd wake up, and dropped the gun into his open hand.

"Are you okay Alice? You seem like you've seen a ghost… you know if you don't want me here I can leave." he stood up, looking slightly dejected, he adjusted the pistol and checked the mag she loaded in, then started walking to the tip of the lifeboat where most of the scratching noises were, and turned to Alice. "I'll be back, I'll see if I can find something that'll fix you guys up better." he said with a smile, though he didn't honestly expect to come back any time soon, he looked over the edge of the little boat and started firing into their heads with practiced ease, even though he only had this gun for less than three days.

After a full minute of shooting the attacking and retreating predators, he started to uneasily climb down the side, when he hit the sand he started shuffling into the jungle, he holstered the pistol and drew the hatchet, hacking and slashing any of the leaves and branches in his way… soon his grogginess had passed and he looked bewilderedly at the blade, he had no clue how long he had been out here, now how long it had been since he left those girls behind… oh well, no need to stay hung up on that, time to do some exploring, he observed his surroundings, he looked to be in the opening of a great green field with tall grass… this would be a great place for snakes and big cats tiger's to hunt.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard rustling just behind him, reacting quickly he swung around in a combat ready stance… he was not expecting, standing there were either his hunter's or his unlikely allies, both Zoe and Alice seemed to have followed after him, they also looked alot better than yesterday, he didn't bother looking at their limbs this morning… perhaps their IS unit's were functional somehow after all?

Back to the matter at hand, it seems Zoe had found the other gun, while Alice decided to arm herself using a combat knife… where it came from he may never know. "Um… I guess we won't be needing those medical supplies now will we?" he joked half-heartedly, after a few seconds he looked around awkwardly, not entirely sure what to say… at least he kept up his smile for optimisms sake right?

Nobody said anything, luckily it seems nobody had to when Ichika pointed at something in the sky. "Hey look, smoke." that was all it took for the awkward silence to disappear, instead it was replaced with looks of hope from the girls… Ichika however felt his gut telling him to stay away from it. "I vote we _don't_ go that way, all in favor?" it was mostly a joke honestly, but he still hoped they'd agree for the sake of staying alive, he waited for an answer and got it in the form of them chatting excitedly… it appears they either mistook his voting joke, or they were completely ignoring him altogether.

Suddenly, it seems their excited chatting started devolving into an argument when Zoe stopped Alice from blindly rushing towards said fire, Ichika sweatdropped when suddenly they started butting heads whilst shouting louder and louder, when he tried to calmly warn them that they were attracting unwanted attention they just shouted something along the lines of. 'Stay out of this!' then shoved him into something awfully pointy, as soon as he touched the tip he slowly turned around nervously.

He was greeted with the pointy thing, or rather, a spear, or rather more, many spears pointing at him, wielding said spear's were half-naked men that looked like tribals. Tattoos of various colors littered their bodies, from head to foot, the pieces they wore looked like stone armor, they were also awfully scrawny looking to be humans, likely because of being underfed… these were ancient tribals, and while they were pointing their spears at Ichika, they looked hungrily at Ichika's companions, most were young, in fact, they were all younger than Chifuyu… numbering of about 9 teenager's.

They quickly surrounded the clearing, ignoring the rest of their surroundings just to focus on the prey they saw before them. Ichika noticed that neither Alice nor Zoe had any idea they had company and continued to argue, this kept most of the tribals attention on them, it seems they weren't very interested in Ichika himself.

suddenly Ichika noticed another rustling to his left that was quite discreet, yet still noticeable, as he watched the rustling the other two stopped arguing and finally looked around… they looked exasperated, not scared or angry, just… the look you'd give someone when they haven't said anything new and gave you the same joke on the third day in a row.

Discreetly Ichika let his hatchet hand tighten on the grip, but not because of the tribals… he continued to watch the rustling while the girls and the tribes people started to converse, they still didn't understand each other, Ichika was sure, but it couldn't hurt right? After a minute of conversing when their conversation seemed to get to its most dramatic capacity with Alice seemingly acting as the self-proclaimed leader of their group (though she did point at Ichika a lot for one reason or another) the rustling started to get violent, when a few of the spearmen started to grab the girls a pair of panthers burst from the rustling movement, one looked to be completely white, while the other looked black, other than that they were completely identical. 'Except their eyes.' noted Ichika when he saw their colors, the white one had blue eyes, and the black had red. 'Welp, that's what I shall call them, Red and Blue.' decided Ichika like his life wasn't in danger, while he was left in his musings it seemed the tribals decided to abandoning their plan of capturing Alice and Zoe, most retreated while a few were visibly frozen in fear.

Ichika saw the panic in everyone's eyes, especially the stronger looking warriors were shaking, there were a few options he could try, but the easier ones required that the weak die, and even then it wasn't guaranteed they'd live, but he'd need the help of-... 'No, not them too…' indeed, it seemed both of his companions were either running clumsily away, or frozen still and hyperventilating, he was alone, and seemed to be the only one not afraid… fortunately or unfortunately, the Predator's seemed to have their sights set on him while everyone else scattered in a frenzy like the prey they seemed to accept to be.

After a few moment's most were either running, hiding, or frozen stiff in fear… Red and Blue circled him, noticing he was armed, Ichika stared defiantly at the ones who had poorly mistaken him to be prey, only the weak were prey, he was strong… 'And it's gonna stay that way.' as if on cue, the white Panther darted at him from behind, Ichika was surely outmatched in speed and likely strength, but he had the element of surprise, reflexes and smarts… he must finish this swiftly, for if this drags out any longer than three minutes he would most definitely die.

Taking the white ones misjudgement to his advantage he bent forward and whirling around while swinging his blade with all his might and sinking it quickly into his jaw, using his momentum of the attack to his advantage, he swung his shackled chains around his neck while jumping around his back, then jerked his grip to where he assumed the weak point may be, as soon as he had a good grip he tore the hatchet away from the beast once more, preparing for a second attack.

Of course he still remembered the black twin, he gave a firm yank on his chain in a way that would move his first victim into acting as a meat shield, switching positions with where his neck use to be for his victims, and not a second too soon as the black one mistakenly sunk his fangs into his brother's neck, using this to his advantage, Ichika finished the remaining bits of his chains around his second victim, effectively binding both vicious beasts together for the remainder of this fight, still clutching the blade in his grip, he sunk it into his new victims skull while he viciously clawed back at Ichika's body, pulled it back, and repeated… four times, when he finished off the black Panther, he used his remaining time and bloodlust to pull harder and harder on the chain wrapped around the white ones neck… however the white one still had some fight left in him… so Ichika pulled the hatchet one last time, aligned it with the beasts neck, and gave one last swipe… completely beheading him, and finishing the battle for life and death between the eight year old and the two predators… turned prey

Ichika wasn't breathing… his whole world froze, he looked around and noticed no one else was moving either… everyone was completely still, not a single sound was made… he looked at where he saw Zoe and Alice huddled together, their faces pale as could be, he looked to the tribals, they all looked like they just watched the impossible… which they may very well have, Ichika pulled away his hatchet, and smiled sweetly at everyone in the frozen clearing. "Is everyone okay?" was the last thing he said before he cleaved the last of his innocence as he cleaved what remained of the black Panthers head off, he held up both beasts heads for all to see, whilst still keeping his disarming smile in full effect.

They couldn't believe their eyes, this eight year old boy had killed two greatly feared creatures in the immediate area, while still chained as well… he moved at unbelievably speeds that they could barely track, and now he was covered in blood while still smiling. He pointed his blade swiftly at the tribals, while using his headless holding hand to point at Zoe and Alice. "Those two don't belong to you… you will never have them." he practically whispered, normally no one would have heard him, but with everything being so silent who couldn't hear him?

He unwrapped his chains from the beasts, allowing them to slump together peacefully on the bloody jungle floor, then proceeded to walk over… no, to stumble over to his companions and nearly collapsed as soon as he was around five feet from them… then he fell to his knees, suddenly feeling the full effects of his battle, feeling the full weight of his chains viciously drop him to the ground, his muscles were screaming for release, the cuts crying out in agony… and that's when he started coughing up blood, he looked back at Zoe and Alice, giving a thumbs up before falling unconscious, slumped on his knees in the middle of the clearing.

0-0-0-0-0

Ichika felt like he had been stabbed by a thousand needles when he woke up… especially in his face, definitely felt like he got stabbed in the face quite a bit, he started to groan, as soon as he groaned there were a pair of sharp gasps that immediately started grabbing at his sides, he opened his eyes and saw nothing but blurs clouding his vision. After a full minute of following the blobs with his eyes they started to get clearer… it was his companions, they looked really relieved for whatever reason… his face still hurt by the way… though significantly less so.

He looked around and noticed there was a wooden roof above him, the room looked like the inside of a pyramid or a tent, he noticed glowing stones that sat on the walls of his room, the girls were chatting excitedly, but also in hushed whispers, sadly Ichika still couldn't make heads or tails of what they were saying… 'Oh well.' he thought with a small smile while grabbing both the girls and hugging them tightly. "I had the strangest dream you guys, and you were both totally there, it started out with you pointing a gun at me as soon as I woke up." he then proceeded to recount all of what happened to him leaving the lifeboat, to him killing the two twins, then finished with: "I wonder if it's a sign of what's to come. As soon as he finished he looked down at his shackles for a moment.

As soon as his gaze fell on them he smiled softly, he looked back at the girls and pointed at his chains. "These are chains." he decided he'd really like to communicate with them, so he was going to teach them his language, and perhaps get them to teach their to him as well. "That's dirt, that's light, this is a hut, your a girl, I'm a boy, your cute and I'm… wait, what am I?" he thought about that for a moment. 'A monster.' then looked to the ceiling. 'A murderer.' then back to the girls. 'A… alone.' he sighed dejectedly and looked at the side of his bed where a box sat, he stood up numbly, taking note of the various bandages that wrapped around him in such a way that resembled a mummy, whilst leaving his head free of them. He opened the box and his eyes went wide… there were alot of notebooks in here

The girls looked at him with blank expressions, he grabbed a notebook and a pen among pens, then began to write the basic Japanese kanji chart, it took a while since he wasn't very good at writing, but he did know a great deal of his language, it's like the difference between reading a manga then trying to make one of your own, you can know all about it but it'll never be the same if you try doing it yourself, after that was done he showed them what he was trying to do by saying his alphabet… at first it seemed they weren't picking up what he was putting down, but eventually he steadily and slowly started to learn their language… steady progress, steady as she blows.

At the end of the day the girls had passed out, right on his shoulder while he was trying to understand what he was seeing, Ichika was a smart boy, and a quick learner… but even he will have bumps in the road of knowledge… though it was exciting to learn two separate languages besides his own while teaching his own while lost in the unknown at the age of eight… it was quite a feat is you asked anyone besides his modest self. Once he noticed his companions had fallen asleep on his shoulders he opened an empty journal book and began to write about his day… if only to ease his nonexistent nerves.

0-0-0-0-0

_(Day: 05)_

"_Today has been quite the interesting day, though the passed few days have been interesting in their own right, today was far more calming… first I'd like to state that my name is Ichika Orimura and I am eight years old… I along with my twin Madoka were kidnapped by… I actually don't know, but they were bad people… I escaped at the price of my innocence, I killed many of them with a gun I never fired a gun before in my life, and that was only the first day."_

"_I hope Madoka is okay, I ended up throwing her off the ship with a life vest while trying to keep the attention of the kidnapper's, I have yet to know of her fate as of now, the entire time I had these cuffs stuck on my wrists ankles and neck, they are heavy at times and light on occasion… ever since these cuffs were put on me I feel… I dunno safer? I guess these cuffs grew on me pretty quickly… I shouldn't have survived when that ship sunk… I should've sunk with the rest of those monsters… these cuffs were so heavy that I was unable to swim, yet on the second day I wake up washed up on a beach with a jungle."_

"_On that day I wandered around for a while, ate some food I scavenged, met two girls who were severely injured and were also originally my kidnappers, but I could tell, they were just as scared as I was, besides, I already fought four Hyenas to get to them so why not invest? After that I fell asleep with them, they didn't understand Japanese, and vise-versa, however I did learn their names: Zoe Emilia and Alice Black, they're both older than me but still young enough to be children… definitely child soldiers in training in my opinion."_

"_On the fourth day I woke up to a gun to my head, after a bit of caution I pretty much bailed the lifeboat with a new hatchet and killed… I killed a few Hyenas… and I didn't feel anything, Chifuyu-nee told me that the weight of a life is heavy… I didn't feel anything when I killed these creatures, same for the people on that ship I was trapped on, it was just so easy for me to do it… to kill them… perhaps the weight of a life means far less to me, it makes me wonder, enough to wonder what would happened if I killed Zoe or Alice."_

"_That thought doesn't scare me much, I know it SHOULD but it doesn't, it… I suppose I must be a monster."_

"_Though I suppose I killed for the good of others, I can at least take comfort in that right? I hope I'm not some Villain of some kind of Manga… crossed fingers I guess. Anyway after I left the lifeboat it turns out the girls started following me, I don't know why but they did, after that we were surrounded by tribals, then attacked by a black and a white Panther, no one will believe me but I killed them as well, not with a gun, but my hatchet and shackles… even if I do have these shackles removed I will never ever let them leave my sight, anyway after I killed them I passed out after decapitating them as… my Prize?"_

"_Where did that come from? I hope that's not a side effect of whatever's happening to me, when I woke up I was in this hut with my face hurting really bad, my body is also covered in bandages though I don't know why. Then I got the girls to teach me some of their language and vise-versa… maybe I won't return home immediately, I will make this last and come back stronger to make Chifuyu-nee and Madoka proud!~"_

_0-0-0-0-0_

_(Day: 10)_

"_It turns out the reason my face and body hurt so much was because the tribals decided to TATTOO MY ENTIRE BODY, I don't know how to feel about this, the day after I wrote the first page someone came in and started changing my bandages and watched as my companions taught each other's languages to each other, apparently they wanted to understand us too as someone came in to join us and taught us some of their basic language too, when I went to see the rest of the village everyone was very respectful, as if I were their Minister… it was a flood of emotions honestly, some Pride, Arrogance, and Joy to name a few… but I also felt very Nauseous, I really didn't like the attention, when I went for a swim at the little river they had, that's when I noticed my tattoos."_

"_I later found out after a large amount of charades that these marks on my body is some kind of great honor… it was a large headache if I'm being honest here. The rest of the day continued with me learning my 'friends' languages… again."_

_0-0-0-0-0_

_(Day: 20) _

"_I have learned so much in so little time, but mostly on just language so some wouldn't be impressed, I however am ecstatic to finally somewhat understand everyone else, and to finally have an intelligent conversation with my peers, apparently the languages my companions speak are German and French, while the Tribal language shall remain being named Tribal. I know 'really originally Ichika'."_

"_There's not much to do around except learn languages which the girls seem to be getting sick of, and explore, which the camp refuses to let me leave their sight, seriously, there's always a small group of people not far behind watching my every movements… they giggle too much, it's making me feel self-conscious of myself… am I doing something funny or embarrassing or… something amusing, what's so special about me… you'd think they'd leave someone with chains and shackles alone y'know?"_

_Though when I do leave the camp I have found some really interesting stuff. So not all was lost I suppose, I went back to my original camp and started cutting down trees and planting stick, stones, and logs around my little trench-hut near the beach… at some point when I stopped to go back to the camp and returned the next day, it seemed someone had finished my humble home for me whilst I was gone… fascinating."_

"_P.S. I always wanted to say that."_

_0-0-0-0-0_

_(Day: 225)_

"_I completely understand what everyone is saying now. (I hope) and have come to the conclusion of many things. Number one: these people worship me. I was skeptical at first but after so much time I have no more excuses that say otherwise... I know it, they know it, even the jungle knows it… I know they know it and vise-versa, It turns out they weren't keeping us prisoner at all… I mean they were trying to capture us at first until the twins showed up and I slaughtered them, they also think that Zoe and Alice 'belonged' to me after I defeated them… they also wouldn't shut up about the fact that I had these cuffs on… after extended questioning they finally dropped it and came to their own conclusion or something. _

_Number two: Alice and Zoe were home sick when we got here, but seem to have decided this was home for now. _

_Number three, it seems that if there were any rescue teams looking for us, they must have given up by now. Looks like I'll have to get off this island myself, when I told the girls and the village there were various reactions… the girls seemed intrigued while the village seemed very… negative on the subject."_

"_So yeah, I've been stuck on this island for a year, the kidnapping a long time ago seems like a distant dream now, I don't even remember who I apparently killed… nor do I remember my sister's or friends very well, I'll reunite with them someday…"_

_0-0-0-0-0_

_(Year: 1/ Day: 99)_

"_I've done it, I've finally built a small ship large enough to get me out of here, of course I planned on taking Alice and Zoe with me… I did not however plan to take over fifty of the tribals with me, it seems they've become attached to me, I've been told I'm as wise as the village elder, even the elder himself called me overly mature and smart for my age, they seem to have taken that to heart and some of the younger tribals have come to call me the title of: Father Ichika… I'm lost for words, they did it completely in japanese, ever since I killed those Panther's they seemed to copy every single thing I do, when I told them I worship no god myself, they named me some sort of 'Priest' which doesn't make sense at all!... I hope this is just a faze, even Alice and Zoe have taken to calling me Father, and it's kind of uncomfortable to hear someone older than you call you that."_

"_Another reason I'm probably called father is probably because many of the warrior family couples die when hunting and I immediately volunteered to look after them… that or the single mothers who have lost their husband tell their kids to do it… whoever started this little well-played prank has done this for far too long… whatever, if I show it doesn't affect me they'll eventually stop right?"_

"_. . .Right? . . ."_

_0-0-0-0-0_

_(Year 2/ Day 135)_

"_I have long since left that island and have yet to return, as I began to depart that day it turns out they had copied my designs and hefted a great many people onto a whopping number of eight small ships, each fitting around forty to fifty people, just to follow me no matter where I go, I definitely couldn't go back to Japan now then unless I wanted them to be harmed in some way (Not that I even knew where Japan was anyway)… they were still tribal after all… I came to care about them a great deal, and besides… it crossed my mind that I actually didn't 'Want' to go home anymore, after learning of that island and all it had to offer, the people I've met, the languages I now speak, I wish to see the world, I'll have to find a way to ditch them somewhere where they'll be happier later on, too many people traveling together would be very troublesome, and especially foolish in my case"_

"_So for the time being I had us pose as small fishing ships while floating near an island I bet was full of pirates, sure enough a few speed boats came near us and tried to take our cargo, they weren't expecting the cargo being a small army wielding spears and bows as well as many blunt weapons to fight back… after taking the speed boats and hooking the back of our handmade ships to the back to act as as sort of trailer we made our way to a small caribbean dock that looked run down and completely abandoned, this was the perfect place to set up shop for the time being."_

"_I taught my people to use the modern world weapons, and that the armor they wore now was useless, though it was kinda hard using a rifle you haven't even seen for a year I quickly learned to master it, what with the long amount of practice with bows and spears… ah, if you haven't figured it out I still have these shackles on me, the other's seem to believe that: if they find a way to rid me of these shackles my godly powers would be free. Yes, that's what their conclusion seems to be… it'll take time but I'll teach them that I am no god… it'll just take time."_

"_Throughout all of this we had stolen more and more speed boats belonging to pirates of various places, it kept on that way until one day we had come across two cargo ships under control of a Somali pirate with a high level bounty, when we raided the ship and freed the crew it turned out it was an arms dealers ship. This specific dealer was generous and gave us a small taste of her shipment, and in return she hired us as bodyguards… this was the beginning of our career as Private Merc's."_

"_Slowly, ever so slowly we started buying better gear, we trained harder, and any piece of knowledge we discovered we guarded it greedily… that was the beginning of: The Sleeping Knights. A silly name at first, but soon it became feared and respected in the underworld's, we expanded, collected members discreetly… and even got our greedy little finger's on I.S. unit's."_

"_When we recruited members we only took in orphans, mostly smart orphans and trained them like Spartain's, when we found a flaw of some kind we improved, we learned many things, and took almost greedily from people, but we were fair… we aren't monster's, we only thirst for Knowledge not blood… yet."_

_0-0-0-0-0_

_(Year 2/ Day 210)_

"_How did it come to this? Wasn't I just an ordinary boy a few years ago? Oh for the love of all that is holy… it seems they were serious when they called me 'Father', this wasn't some ordinary Private army, this was '__**My**__' Private army, the original member's (AKA the tribals) spread their nickname of me to the other people within (which consisted of mostly gullible Orphan's), and they treat me with so much… 'respect' and love or maybe fear… they adore me apparently… it's flattering really, but their faith is misplaced, everyone made some new rule that any new members must pledge their lives to me and me alone… it was cool for awhile, even funny, but now their like real Sleeping Knights pledging to a Sleeping King… or rather: 'Me'."_

"_Well everyone calls me a respectful title… how did this start again? Wasn't I kidnapped against my will? When did it turn into undying loyalty… anyway that's not the real problem that I'm stressing right now, the people who have pledged fully, mind body and soul even volunteered to… TO… 'Bear My Mark…' if this wasn't a cult before, it sure fireshit is now, at this rate I could start my own country, I'm barely ten for god's sake…"_

_I'm leaving my Vice-Commander's in command to stop this nonsense while I'm away, I'll be going to Russia for a while to complete a large list of contracts to keep me busy, every time one is completed over there, two more pop up… this also gives me a chance to have fun with a little secret I learned of a few months ago…"_

"_If your wondering what I'm talking about I probably shouldn't write about this… well, here goes nothing… my Ebony Shackles are alive, now hear me out, I know this sounds like crazed ramblings, but listen little reader… it turns out my Prison turned out to be my Wings, oh, by the way, I still wasn't able to get rid of the shackles… but remember when I wrote that these things grew on me? Well I should've taken that more literally than I thought as the chains have long since disappeared into thin air, or rather, my arms… it's so cool looking, and when I tried to concentrate to do something I did something spectacular… I SUMMONED A SWORD!…. I think, but it came to my open palm when I tried… you can't see 'cause I'm writing but I just summoned it again… whenever I look at my fire place I can actually shift the fire to my will… I nearly died trying to do that though."_

"_It didn't stop there though, I made light in midair follow me around like a lantern, I can move water with my mind, I can make the earth tremble… I know this sounds ridiculous, but I think these shackles are some sort of I.S. core… and we're merging, I always thought she… or they have been looking out for me… do I refer to my shackled tattoos as a pair? Like socks or shoes or boobs? Because I'm suspicious that there's more than one little girl taking her slumber in my head, I hear them whisper sometimes, though I don't think they know I know, I know only girls can have an I.S. but…"_

"_Well, yet another reason why I have to go, I have to investigate this strange occurrence. Until next time."_

_0-0-0-0-0_

_(Year 3/ Day 11)_

"_Man it's so cold out here… luckily I have gotten quite used to it, anyway I just found out about a peculiar group that don't seem to like my group, they're called 'Phantom Task', and apparently we've been swiping business from them… or something along those lines, in other news… I definitely can control the elements, when I cut down most of these contracts I'm going to live with the Monks for a while to get more connected with myself, the more connected to myself I am the better I can use my precious Zero's power… oh, by the way my little girl seems to be named Zero, not 'Ebby', she says her other sister(S?) aren't ready to meet me yet, and that she would be the first to fight with me, when I asked her why she accepted me, a male to be her pilot, her response was unbelievable."_

"_I refuse to ever tell another soul why they accepted me just in case, but what they said carved a smile on my face like it was every holiday in one for a straight month, I've never smiled like that before… I might be in love with her… anywho, I am apparently the first Male pilot of an I.S. … woah, surreal really… anyway I met a blue haired girl today, though she spoke Russian I could tell she was quite charming, but she kept referring to me as Phantom Task in Japanese, perhaps Phantom Task in a Japanese group primarily?, whilst I was in the middle of hunting down a Phantom Task member, maybe she has the same task as I had, and had accidently picked the wrong target?"_

"_Anyway long story short my target got away and I nearly died, though the battle ended up as a draw it was quite breathtaking, she took my first IS Battle virginity, I guess we can't all choose'm now can we?"_

"_Well, I really should chase down that little pilot that slipped through my fingers, a Sleeping Knight always puts a contract to rest, no matter how big or small, we'll do it all. Ciao."_

_0-0-0-0-0_

_(Year 4/ Day 220)_

"_Wow, I've seen so much already, I've been to so many countries, although none of them were simply for my own needs, they were all purely business… y'know, every, I think five or six battles? I have fought that Russian girl again… I just learned her name was Tatenashi Sarashiki, and I just realized she's around the same age as me, anyway I really wanted to talk to her during our battles, it's kinda… uncomfortable fighting someone repeatedly when you don't even know anything about each other y'know? So I've been practicing Russian ever since, I now know more than thirteen languages."_

"_It's about time I learned what they were saying I suppose, I learned all the other twelve languages during business trips and all that crap blah blah blah… so when I spoke to her I attempted to compliment her on her abilities and all that… judging on the way she started getting red faced, I think she was seething in anger… just me? No? Okay then…"_

"_I also believe she may have stopped hunting Phantom Task member's and started hunting me exclusively instead… poor girl, I really think she believes I'm her enemy… she's still quite charming during our battles though, hmm, Valentine's day is coming up soon, perhaps I'll stop for a visit and give her some anonymous chocolates and flowers like I do for everyone else I know… though she is technically my enemy, well only time will tell I suppose."_

"_Well enough about her, I finally learned to control my IS perfectly, I haven't met the other's yet, but Zero said I have officially mastered Piloting her… she's such a sweet girl… y'know she kinda looks like my sister's now that I think about it… does she look like what my subconscious desires? I haven't thought about them in a very long time y'know, it may be best I never return… I'm probably dead in their eyes, no need to ignite and already dashed out flame with my presence again. I'm a good cook, I should learn how to make chocolate, then I can give my dear sister's some candy to enjoy, I'll even give some to Tabane-nee and her sister."_

"_Oh, another thing when it comes to my little Zero, she says that one of her other sisters will allow me to meet them soon, noting that, it might be true as my shackles have all but disappeared, and instead merged into my body, they look like runes and stuff… though the weight hasn't decreased, in fact I believe she keeps making them subtly heavier every chance she gets, is that how heavy my arms are naturally now? Same for my legs?, apparently my entire body is Tattooed completely now, maybe that's why some people haven't figured out I'm a guy now… whatever."_

_0-0-0-0-0_

_(Year 5/ Day 144)_

"_I've been to thousands of battles, and killed many more, my experience has likely surpassed every other male in the history of man, maybe even every single human in existence. I met Zero's 'Sister', she looks an awful lot like Tatenashi for some reason, only difference is her hair is Red and eyes were Blue, skin as pale as ever, her name is Zulu… she has a very short temper, first time I met her she said I was… she said a lot of very hurtful things really… but that was a very long time ago, we're fantastic friends now in my humble opinion, I also met another one of their sister's much later on, her name is Zuko… she looks like Tabane-nee, though her scheme was mostly White and Red, she talks so freaking fast I almost giggled to death."_

"_But they all have their eyes and skin complexion in common, they're all really pale… am I into pale women? I guess that's not very unlikely… anyway, we're all inseparable now, I also found out another interesting fact, this IS was not made by conventional means, and was actually declared a failure, I snorted at that information, poor girls believe that they're a failure, they wouldn't accept anyone, not a woman, not a man, and certainly not Tabane-nee herself, so Tabane tossed her out, thinking that she had failed in one of her many attempts… she didn't know that when she made this core she put in more than one AI, I almost got angry at Tabane for a moment when they told me it wasn't her fault, and that when Tabane declared them as a failure she cried herself to sleep that night… and the night after that… and the night after that one… for a week straight… poor Tabane, she only wanted to make something amazing."_

"_When I asked them why they accepted me again they responded they vaguely remember why they bonded to me so much as never remembering what it was like before being close to me, hmm, somehow it seems they've merged with my body completely… maybe even my soul, I was afraid of them being removed from me, so that's good, when I asked what would happen if they were removed from me they were hesitant to answer… but in the end they said I'd die, to their surprise I was actually relieved, I couldn't imagine life without them, when they heard I was more than happy that we'd never be separated I'm sure I felt our bonds skyrocket…"_

"_My little IS isn't normal, every time I fight I feel more like a Mage rather than a Knight like Chifuyu-nee, I can actually manipulate the elements, even lightning had become my ally… my attacks look more like spells, like my 'gun' is actually a 'Staff', I don't even need to do melee combat anymore, I still can but I just don't need to… huh, fancy that, apparently, I'm being called: 'The Black Mage' by everyone who isn't in my Mercenary group, the Merc's all still call me father, but not like, obsessively so anymore, just a formality to show respect… well, some of them anyway… I hope... well I gotta go, I'll be sure to write more soon."_

_0-0-0-0-0_

_(Year 5/ Day 355)_

"_I found out something unfortunate... those little girl's inside my head is really just one, after further observation of the three A.I's in my core… it seems my little Zero has developed a split-personality, her programming is suppose to have the capacity to think on the level of a super A.I… that's why she was declared a failure it seems, that's why none of them show themselves at the same time, every time one of them is in use, the other one's briefly disappear… but they act and talk like they're all here at the same time… but you know what? I still love them all, I'll fight for all of them anyway knowing they're 'defective'... I've come to know each personality and… I don't have the heart to tell them half of them aren't real, and just a figment of Zero… mostly because I don't actually believe that… from now on… they're all Zero… because that is who they… she is._

"_I'm sorry I made this page brief, so I'll lighten it up with what little has happened to me recently, I went to Germany to complete a contract for yet another anonymous user. I was ordered to intercept an attack headed for a small isolated military installation, it was supposed to be secret… apparently this is either super important, or we're not worth the secret… whatever, anyway, it was a different unit, they looked official, uniforms and all, so it wasn't Phantom task or any other smaller contractor companies… this was an international hit, and from what little I saw, these guys were Germans as well… looks like Germany had some infighting on their hands?"_

"_Anyway, I had done my job and efficiently eliminated the last of the operators just before they reached the target, unfortunately many of the people on base thought I was the attacker, after seeing the uniforms of the men I had taken out they immediately launched a 'counter-attack'... the special thing about all this was one girl that had me on edge the entire time… not like Tatenashi, but damn was she deadly. She had a very nice shade of silver hair, and even had an eyepatch… she was very violent the entire time, no mistakes were made like her peers… when I tried to explain that she should back off so I could leave… she shot me… alot… I got a few bruises for my troubles, long story short it ended in her IS being completely and utterly wrecked, and me thanking her politely for a strong fight, when I asked for her name she seemed hesitant, but gave in when I told her my mine… not my full name but still a name."_

"_Her name was Bodewig. Laura Bodewig… the moment was ruined when she promised to hunt me down and make me pay for all my troubles, I told her I looked forward to it, giving her my best encouraging smile before disappearing entirely from the area… that was yet another cover story for the news channel of: 'The Black Mage'."_


	3. Chapter 3

_**(A/N: I tried to stall as long as I could, also, this fic is **__**way **__**more popular than I thought it'd be… thank you for loving edgy-old me… that being said, prepare for it to skyrocket!)**_

_0-0-0-0-0_

_(Year 6/ Day 100)_

"_Today is a tragedy… I simply cannot stress how bad this is, this was my only chance, the only one I might ever get in my entire life… and now it's completely botched… I will never forgive him!"_

"_I'll never get to have a chimichanga made by a monkey, some stupid assassin missed when he shot at me and he killed the monkey that was making a chimichanga! I lost an opportunity of a lifetime, animals cooking our food for us… I made him pay though, I stuffed that sniper rifle right up his rectum, he won't be seeing it for a while… and we won't be seeing any sniper's for a while if they know what's good for their health, oh yeah, apparently someone figured out I was important or something along those lines and set a bounty on my head, maybe they still wanna try to use me against Chifuyu? Or maybe they know of my affiliation with The Sleeping Knight's? It doesn't matter, what matters is that someone is out for my blood."_

_I changed my look drastically now over the years, I dyed my hair white, I wear welding goggles everywhere I go, and I wear black bandages that cover my whole body head to toe, I also wear a dark crimson cloak, with bits of black all over, I usually wear black combat pants with knee and shoulder pads and elbow pads no matter where I go, I also have black suspenders with some forgotten company name or other, and black combat boots, these are my field fatigues by the way, so I do wear normal stuff when out with the civilized people, but right now I'm in some forgotten desert in egypt so… oh, I also wear a beanie, though that's whenever I'm not wearing a hood, and for the final touches I wear fingerless gloves… again, these are my field fatigues."_

_**(A/N: I hadn't remembered any of this… but lol.)**_

"_What I normally wear is actually an Ebony mechanics jumpsuit that I got for christmas, apparently my Sleeping Knight's all pitched in to make it somehow, so there's that, I still wear the long coat over the jumpsuit but the knee pads and elbow pads stay, not the shoulder pads, I still wear the goggles because people say that when I look at them it's very disarming (Because apparently I have very innocent and beautiful eyes I'm told) they said I have a very innocent look even when I've killed so many people, along with my white beanie hat, everyone says I look suspiciously like a wizard still, so the name Mage has stuck to me like glue ever since I suppose, and I always wear the black bandages to cover my tattoos, but not my face, whenever anyone asks I tell them it's from my tribe… so there's that."_

_My group is now as well known as Phantom Task, as soon as we started stealing their business they apparently declared war on us, I'm fine with that, Phantom Task aren't friends of mine after all, it's a pity I guess, other organizations seem to also hold a grudge against us as well, no matter I suppose, some of my Sleeping Knight's think we should start planting spies inside other groups for our own safety, I fully agree with this and have had a significant little syndicate war with quite a few countries for a while now, oh by the way, they still don't know that I can pilot an I.S. , oh man, when they find out they really will believe I'm some kind of chosen Demi-god won't they? Ugh."_

"_Zero, Zulu, Zuko and I are as close as ever, inseparable like me and Madoka used to be… If we were any closer we'd probably have feelings for each other (not that I already don't have feelings for a long time now)… is that how I was with Madoka? Hm, well nothing to worry about on that little list, anywho, today is a very important day, I just received a contract from an anonymous Private Military Company that wants to take an expedition into space for some unspecified reason, they didn't specify at all, just that they wanted IS body guards, the contractor doesn't want the rest of his or her company knowing anything about this project, but apparently they believe to be expecting trouble along the way, our mission is first the Moon, then some other planet and so on and so forth, they really want this for whatever reason… welp, they're paying me to go to space essentially… this'll be good."_

"_Oh, I've also tasked my people to go back to the island where I met the Tribals, then we're going to form an HQ there, I really miss that place, I wonder how the tribe is? We're going to be doing so much, too bad I won't be there to watch it grow… just like for Chifuyu and Madoka…"_

"_No way am I missing a chance to go to space though, it'll be fun... when I return I'll probably find a new appreciation for earth like I did when I stayed with the monks… oh yeah, I never wrote about that did I? Well pretty much long story short: I went, I stayed, I found peace with myself, which wasn't very hard, it was almost like a vacation to be honest. Well I gotta pack up, it's gonna be a while so… cya soon I guess…?"_

_0-0-0-0-0_

_(Year 7)_

_(Ichika's return to earth.)_

"I wonder what changed while we were away… well, no matter, this contract wouldn't have lasted anyway, I'm surprised they didn't figure out I was a guy sooner." narrated Ichika out loud in the captain's room on the ship, at his feet was a puddle of blood from the previous captain of the space vessel, what happened minutes prior was the man found out he was indeed dealing with a male IS user, so he tried to offer Ichika with some bullshit or other about doing research on him like he was a lab rat, Captain deMarco was his name, and he demanded that Ichika submit to him… is the short version anyway, but Ichika outright refused, and since this captain was obvious not going to leave it alone… Ichika had to dispose of him, he'd surely tell the rest of the world if he didn't.

Ichika has had a very hard time hiding his secret, luckily none of his group that found out told anyone else, they were definitely loyal, he had to admit, he couldn't wish for better subordinates. He just returned from his expedition from somewhere, apparently this was all to test out a spaceship similar to the IS technology in a way, they had shared Tabane's original image of space travel, sadly they started getting desperate more and more aggressive in their attempt to get a male IS user, Ichika had no choice but to silence this little expedition, he relayed this info to his group back down on earth and told them to annihilate anyone connected in any way to this group… leaving out innocence but no evidence of course.

He wasn't that bad right?

So here he was, looking down on earth with his very own space battleship, a few rival companies heard about this info and did occasionally try to sabotage this vessel for many obvious reasons. Ichika didn't really care honestly, he just stumbled across this little job and happened to get a ship out of it, instead he really missed home and wanted to return immediately, it was hell up there, the fake air, shitty food, granted it wasn't a pleasure cruise but still, could have brought a bed at least… he slept in storage for the past few months, as did his team of 'rag-tag bodyguards.'

"Alpha, send in Delta squad to deal with the mess, and get a drop pod ready, I'm going back to earth… ASAP." 'Alpha' responded with a snap salute then rushed out to accomplish the great Mages requested tasks. "One more thing." she stopped and awaited his instructions. "Wipe all the data record on the ship, there is no need to leave a trace if we can help it." he smiled, walking passed her towards the crews quarters, When he finished she darted down the hallway to do as she was told.

Ichika looked around at the cold interior of the first battle riddin spacecraft ever built, it was a light silver, with zero colors to give it life, not even a porthole to look into space, he had been stuck in this place for far too long, all that was left to do was pack up and go to Japan for a little problem that's been bugging him for a long time. Over the years it's occurred to Ichika that he never got to finish his childhood, and that if he waited too long he'd never get the opportunity… unless he went to school now, that was the best he would get after all.

His plan was to register into a school, maybe get a few friends, just to experience a normal life, just once… at first his Merc's wanted to accompany him, but he responded that. 'If they wanted to go to school, go anywhere you wish, just don't follow me'… or something like that anyway, they were reluctant but ultimately accepted his decision, he entered the crew's quarters, packed what little of his belongings he had, and went for the hangar bay, when he approached a few people inside stiffened to salutes, most were members of his faction: The Sleeping Knights. "Bravo, radio to rendezvous point, get a few of our members into the pods we return in, they're going to take our place… make sure to assign Pink and Foxtrot." someone gave a salute and started adjusting their comms to follow his words to the letter.

When he entered the pod, many of his people followed, sitting in various places, the same was being done in the pod next to them.

A few seconds after the hatch closed the pods took off out of the hangar and started dropping towards the earth at rapid speeds, around ten miles above the earth, the pods cloaked themselves while coming down, after a full minute drop they slowed down to a stop, sitting on top of a large cargo ship, similar to the one Ichika was kidnapped on all those years ago, though they weren't here for any kidnappings, they were all armed and dangerous, once the pods touched down Ichika immediately burst out and went straight for the helicopter sitting on the helipad at the end of the ship, upon the door bursting open multiple people switched places with the soldiers inside excitedly, seconds later the ship's were in the air, and already three miles up,

Gone before anyone could stop, or even register it's departure.

Ichika entered the small huey alone, as soon as he sat down, he was being transported towards Japan… Ichika was a boy, or rather, a man that valued efficiency, quality over quantity if you will, so no single movement was wasted, every second was precious, it's what made his faction very well respected, when they had a job to do they didn't waste time, they followed their mission to the letter, and to this day there was not a single fuck up.

No known ones at least.

Because that was his job, he was efficient. And it will stay that way, he had no time for mistakes, he vowed to never fuck up if he could help it. His heli touch down on a landing pad at the airport, he gave the pilot an appreciative. "Thank's." with a smile before departing, he walked over to a car, it was a simple car, something unnoticeable, nothing that caught the eye. Once he sat down and the door closed the car immediately roared to life, his driver silently drove into Japan… and before he knew it he was already where he'd take his entrance exam. "Thanks for the ride… be safe." the driver nodded with a small appreciative smile then drove away, leaving Ichika alone, and in the open.

He gave a small sigh and started up the steps into the building wearing his casual Mechanics Jumpsuit, nothing fancy, then immediately got lost in the large building, whoever designed this place must have smoked the good shit while playing some kind of labyrinth game… hell, maybe this place was originally supposed to _be _a labyrinth.

"_How could you possibly get lost this easily? Seriously, the receptionist said take a left then two right's then four doors down… you're hopeless!" _ yelled Zulu inside his head, silently Ichika let out a breath while taking in his surroundings, he was in a long dark hallway, apparently the building was getting an extention or something, and he wasn't supposed to be there. "I know, but if I'm hopeless, then what does that make you? the I.S. that accepted no other?" for a second he could feel her emotions manifest into anger and embarrassment, he started laughing it off. "Kidding, I was kidding… I'm just nervous is all y'know? What if something goes wrong?" he spoke honestly in a gentle tone that immediately calmed Zulu down.

"_How could you be afraid of school when you've gone to so many wars, gone to space even, killed creatures that many people would s-shit their pants over… I-I'm sure you'll be fine." _Comforted the usually shy and calm voice of Zero. "Did I just hear you swear?" teased Ichika, she never swore before, not even when he was about to die many times. _"S-sorry, Zuko said you liked bad girls so…"_ that made Ichika do a one-eighty. "Eh?" he was now standing in front of a large metal door. _"N-nevermind, forget I said anything!~"_ she quickly responded, when she finished she stayed silent, while the other two girls started to burst out laughing and teasing the poor girl.

Ichika didn't know how to save the poor A.I. from her siblings except to move their attention away. "Where do you girls think this door leads to?" he wasn't honestly interested, but if they were happy, he was happy, nothing could change that. When they didn't respond he shrugged, taking their silence as curiosity, he pushed into the room and found it filled with a few IS units. "I've never seen this model before… wonder if it's a new one." Ichika stood in front of a first Generation IS… a training IS… with factory settings that weren't even completed.

When he got closer to inspect them, they all started to glow brightly in response to his presence, begging him to pick any of them. "What the…?" that's when the door busted open, followed by three women, one in a white lab coat, another in a pilot's suit, and the last in a mechanics uniform. "I'm telling you that it's been on the fritz, maybe it's mal-...-function-...-ing… what's going on?" asked the woman in the pilots suit, Ichika turned to them and stated simply. "I got lost…" with a sheepish face, while rubbing his neck. "Then when I came in here, these units started glowing… I can feel them each calling out to me." it was intended as a joke when he finished, but the women looked dumbfounded, the woman in the Jumpsuit exploded angrily. "You don't belong here, what did you do to these units huh?" Ichika was about to respond when the Lab coat spoke before him. "Look, don't they seem like their responding to him? This is incredible!~"

"You, what is your name?" asked the woman, staring at him intently, Ichika thought about that for a moment, should he tell them his name? He really didn't want to kill them, but he really didn't wanna lie to them either, he sighed and gave them a simple response. "I'm Ichika, Ichika Orimura." the women looked at him in disbelief. "You don't honestly expect us to believe that do you? Brunhilde's younger brother died years ago, you don't really expect us to believe that do you?" Ichika shook his head, he didn't look anything like he did years ago, what with the Tattoos and White hair, not to mention his trip to space made him quite a bit taller… "Not really, no, but would you rather I lied about my name? If that's the case call me Zamba, it's a very famous… common name among my tribe." was his reply, and indeed, the name Zamba was quite famous to his faction's cult member's, the cult member's originated from that tribe that put the Tattoos on his face and body. Zamba was one of their gods apparently, Ichika didn't intend to keep that name, his cult would probably take it as a sign or something…

Wasn't he supposed to be taking an entrance exam?

Well long story short, they were in a state of disbelief and made him get onto one of the training I.S. units, which Zero, Zuko and Zulu weren't very happy about, when he mounted the IS, he was immediately bombarded with questions, then out of nowhere, a hatch on the other side of the room opened and he was surprise attacked by another unit, saying something along the lines of: 'Let's get this over with, I was getting bored.' the other IS lunged at him, and Ichika flipped his opponent over his shoulder, slamming her into the ground with the limited strength of his training unit, as soon as she hit the deck she passed out…

Apparently that was an entrance exam he just completed by accident, and he just defeated an instructor using reflexes alone, the women from before couldn't deny it now, this was definitely a male pilot, they asked him various questions, to which he answered as honestly and as vaguely as possible, during the questions one of the women slipped away and spread the news about his big secret, when he was about to leave the building he was bombarded by news reporters and government officials, somewhere along the way someone filled out some exam paperwork for him to go to the all girls IS Training academy, he suspected the women in the lab coat wasn't just writing on a clipboard for herself, and ended up forging his papers for him, he wasn't one to complain anyway, he was going to school in the end, that's all that really mattered right? _"Except everyone knows your secret now." _reminded Zuko in her usual deadpan tone, he wasn't that worried, all he'd have to do in the end is disappear for a few years and everything will be back to normal, he was no stranger to these situations… it _has_ happened before.

There just weren't as many witnesses until now...

A few weeks later he was waking up at an apartment he rented, when he got dressed, went to the bathroom and started eating breakfast he got a quick knock at his door, when he answered there was some kind of uniform stuffed into his arms, the person who gave him the uniform barged their way in and slammed the door shut behind herself. "Put those on, I'm here to escort you to the academy." simple and straight to the point, exactly what he liked, he was quickly dressed and followed her without complaint to a car, then a train station, and finally stood in front of the academy. 'My life sure is quick isn't it?' he quietly mused.

As soon as he was on school grounds there was an immediate crowd of women surrounding him, he simply followed his guide inside towards where the principal was… it was filled with pleasant greetings, small talk here and there… but Ichika knew she was trying to pry as much info out of him as they could, where he was born, how old he was, why he came to Japan, if he really was a male, what was with the tattoos, that question lead to the questioning if he was a delinquent, when he replied he was from a tribe they immediately latched onto the prospect of a whole tribe of men just like him… this annoyed Ichika, he replied with his refusal and insisted he get to class, much to their reluctance.

So his escort escorted him for the last time, he didn't bother remembering her, because as arrogant as it sounded, the truth was that he wasn't going to be here forever after all, his escort took him to his desk, bowed in respect then left… this was the first day of school… the woman that seemed to be the teacher of this class was: Maya Yamada, she was a Green haired teacher with glasses, a sizeable bust… and a very shy woman, definitely shy, if Zero and Yamada-Sensei met, they might become fast friends... Or avoid each other at all costs.

Sitting near the window was a girl Ichika remembered very well, it was Tabane-nee's sister, Houki Shinonono, he remembered training at the Shinonono dojo with her when they were younger, before the I.S. was created, he wasn't sure if it was her, but the way she held herself, and the bow in her hair were definitely traits Houki had, he noticed she was staring at him strangely, he made it known he could see her by faintly waving, she turned her head to the window. 'Definitely Houki…' was Ichika's single though, when he turned his attention to the girl that's kept his attention for quite some time.

The seat that sits closest to the door was a girl with midnight black hair, and brownish/reddish eyes with a pale skin tone, when he walked in she was reading a book, she looked like she was looking through it, as if deep in thought… her face was stuck in a permanent scowl, just like his sister Chifuyu… or…

"Madoka Orimura, do you mind introducing yourself to the class?" called out Yamada's voice, upon hearing her name Ichika was unsure how to feel, he was happy for sure, but he was also full of disappointment, dread and panic… many more emotions collided with him, but he suppressed them for the time being, and listened with a warm poker face as she stood up, upon hearing her name multiple student's started chattering excitedly about her being the younger sister of _Brunhilde_, and others said she was a prodigy… there were many things said but they were silenced when she spoke. "My name, as called out, is Madoka Orimura, I like to read, eat and sleep, what I do in my free time is train to keep improving myself… I have only one remaining family member left… please take good care of me." she sounded bitter around the end of her introduction when she mentioned family, and obviously didn't seem to care too much about the company.

So there she was, his sister was literally a couple feet from him… she doesn't seem to be happy like he remembered her to be, she was always mostly just cold to Chifuyu… 'I guess my 'death' hit her harder than I thought.' this drew a small sigh from him when he started hearing murmurs of differing tones from the rest of the class, he started to get lost in thought when he heard Yamada say his name. "Umm… Zamba is it?" Ichika stood up, then introduced himself.

"Hello everyone! That is not my name, but everyone seems to insist on calling me Zamba for whatever reason, anyway, I am definitely a guy if you're all still skeptical… I come from an unnamed island after deciding to leave the tribe that housed me, my favourite colors are red and black, I have traveled across the world and met many different people, as well as studied many arts, and before you are mistaken, these tattoos are cultural symbols of my adulthood from within my tribe… not signs of delinquency… please take good care of me." Ichika thumped his chest with his right fist, while his left came up behind his back, this was a sign of respect from the tribe that he turned into the Sleeping Knights salute when on business.

When he finished he smiled disarmingly to everyone in the class, the smile that didn't belong to a murdering warlord like him, but a smile any young innocent child would have, when he smiled the whole class either froze with their faces turning bright red, or they squealed like the background fangirl character's they were, he was about to sit down when a book sailed in his direction, he caught the book with both hands before it could hit, inches from his head, looking startled and sitting down quickly, he looked in the direction the book came from and saw a very annoyed looking Chifuyu, he could tell this was her by the resemblance of Madoka, if not her then from the same scowl permanently stuck to their features.

"Ah, I'm guessing the meeting is over now?" Yamada-sensei questioned innocently, and immediately regretted the question when Chifuyu's glare turned to her instead. When Chifuyu saw Yamada's frightened look her glare softened. "Yes, the meeting ended early, something important came up." answered Chifuyu, shooting a small glare in his direction, when she finished Yamada looked relieved. "Ah, that's good then, I suppose this means class will begin now?" questioned Yamada, at this Chifuyu nodded and proceeded to the front of Ichika's desk, collecting her book from Ichika's hands, as soon as she collected her book she attempted to hit him again, but Ichika just caught the book between his hands once more, only instead of looking surprised this time, grimaced at the thought of Chifuyu actually targeting him as some sort of prey, his own flesh and blood. "I must say Orimura-Sensei, you have quite a strong… arm, if that were to of actually hit me I definitely would have hit the floor, even if I was ready for it."

As he spoke, Chifuyu looked more and more annoyed, when he finished she leaned her head down to his ear. "If you block or dodge the next hit I give you, you will be severely punished." she spoke with a hint of spite in her voice, he responded. "May I ask why your trying to hit me Sensei?" her next words brought a frown to his lips. "I don't take too kindly to anyone claiming to be my little brother, especially you." when she finished she was about to retry beating him again and pulled away, when she suddenly froze at his next set of words.

"_It's okay to be afraid, for that's one of the many emotions that make you human… but if you are afraid yet follow through with whatever must be done, then that's what makes you Brave… and you know why heroes are so brave? It's because even if they are afraid, they wont let an emotion as pathetic as fear control their actions…_ you said something similar to that a very long time ago… and I've never forgotten that, never have, never will." he sat back, eyes scanning her every movement behind his goggles, she stood there for a moment, looking like she saw a ghost. But there was something else behind that shocked expression in her eyes was a small spark of life that caused her face to light up from it's normally pale complection… not a blush per say, but it's the difference between a corpse and a living, breathing being… like a certain glow.

After ten seconds passed he saw that Yamada was about to ask if Chifuyu was okay, but Chifuyu beat her to it by snapping away from her stupor, glaring at Ichika, then went back to the front of the class, behind her desk. 'Well, that solidifies my guess for her job is now, I would have never expected her to be a teacher, I always thought she'd continue being a _Mondo Grosso Champion_… oh well.' he looked up and watched as she introduced herself in a very Phoenix Wright looking way in his opinion.

"Alright, listen up, I'm Chifuyu Orimura, but you will either address me as Miss Orimura or Orimura Sensei, it's my job to teach you to stand well enough in less than one year, understood?" by the end of it the class burst into fangasm mode and endless declarations of their undying loves and loyalties. At least he knew he wasn't the only Orimura with a cult of followers… Chifuyu shook her head in exasperation, saying something about sending all the nutcases to her class on purpose, which triggered a response from the class masochists once again… _what was up with this place?_

As class continued on he started mentally shaking his head for ever worrying about her, he always watched the _Mondo Grosso_ whenever he had the chance, hoping she'd pop up out of nowhere one day… he was relieved to see her doing okay without him.

Yamada started to speak: "The _IS _stands for _Infinite Stratos_, it's multiformed suit first created in Japan, ten years ago it was originally built for outer space, unfortunately those plans are currently on hold, due to the _Alaska treaty_, the IS is strictly prohibited to be used by the military and can only be used in tournaments and sporting events allowing governments to settle disputes, and a new fun sport to be formed, thanks to this, war has become-" she continued with her explanation about how war pretty much doesn't exist anymore, which made Ichika wanna laugh, then she continued to explain that for unknown reasons only women can operate IS unit's. Until Ichika stifled a laugh, which Yamada corrected herself by saying 'That is, until a few days ago, thanks to Zamba.' class continued this way the whole period, though since Ichika already knew all of this and more, he ended up ignoring everything they said.

0-0-0-0-0

Class was finally over, and Chifuyu quickly made sure her presence was brief before disappearing into the unknown of the halls beyond, Madoka seemed content to just read to herself, Yamada seemed to be talking with a few students's… and Houki was watching him, when she thought he wasn't looking, Ichika was left alone, and to his own devices. He decided to see how miss Shinonono had been all these years, he was well aware that she likely didn't know his identity, but that wasn't going to stop him from greeting a childhood friend. He stood up, and made his way to her desk, once he was in front of her he bowed slightly to come face to face with her. "How's it been miss Shinonono?" she looked surprised at his presence, then asked. "Do I know you?"

"Of course you do… at least I'd like to think so, I was there when you won the National Kendo tournament, I was originally going to enter myself, but I ended up being far too busy, I wasn't initially planning on going at all truthfully… until I heard you made it to the finals, I can't tell you how pleasantly surprised I was to hear your name…" he leaned a little closer, causing those watching to squeal in another fangasm. "It's been a long time, I probably wouldn't have recognised you without that bow you always wore since we were kids…" at this, Houki tensed up… accidentally releasing a breathe in the form of a name. "Ichika…" when he heard his name he smiled quite largely, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. "You do remember me after all!~" he cheered happily, laughing in merriment.

As soon as he did that though, multiple girls started yelling out various reactions, the main one having to be jealousy, when he released her she had a wide-eyed and slightly disbelieving expression, when she was about to say something he put a finger to his lips, while winking, still holding his cheeky smile, though his wink wasn't caught, as his goggles still covered his eyes like sunglasses (These are welding Goggles FYI so… just roll with him wearing them for the time being yeah?) he started giggling in amusement at her look of disbelief. "Hey, whaddya say we catch up during lunch? Just like old times, right?" he spoke loudly for everyone to hear while still directing his attention to her, he was about to continue when someone walked into the class looking for him.

"Umm… is there an…" she takes a moment to read a note. "Ichika in this class? I was told to bring her to the hanger… there's a package delivered to her…" when he heard this, he immediately perked up, his stood straight and spoke in a much less playful tone. "That'd be me." he started walking past her when she had a shocked expression, apparently she didn't expect to be fetching the only male in the school. When he stood in the hallway she snapped out of it, leaving two shell shocked women behind, though Houki looked confused, Madoka's confusion turned to anger… 'How dare he, is he trying to pick a fight with me on purpose? That bastard!' Though there is one question that stands out in everyone's mind. 'Why the hangar?'

0-0-0-0-0

(Hangar Area)

When he entered the hanger area, he immediately felt a wave of nostalgia hit him when he noticed how messy everything was, internally smiling, being briefly reminded of his own hangar back on an unmarked map in greenland, when he finished the scanning, he noticed the hangar doors wheeling in a particularly large crate, the crate wore a militaristic presence… if the Japanese military insignia commanding authority, sitting on the side of the box was any indication.

He looked upwards to the windows of the observation room that kept watch over the hangar, like a control room of sorts, perhaps even a lookout tower, within the window frame was Chifuyu, standing and chatting with what appeared to be a man in uniform… the uniform was formal, but still commanding, and from what Ichika could see… he was a man of high rank. 'Likely just another government official trying to win me over, perhaps they'll claim this is a gift to try and get me on their good side, too bad I have everything I could ever actually want stuck to me twenty-four-seven… heh.'

"So, what might be inside this mysterious crate… and why use metal to move something so… unimportant… if that sounded weird, I usually only deal with wood where I come from." he clarified casually, whilst waltzing up to the crate as if he already owned it. He looked back discreetly to the observation deck where Chifuyu and the big wig were speaking… and suddenly Ichika felt very, _very _annoyed. Mr. _uniform _looked like he was starting to get… 'familiar' with his older sibling, trying to cleverly draw his arms around his sister's back…

And now he was massaging her dammit!~

Ichika's annoyance turned into immediate hatred for this man, this man must immediately be put in his place, _he didn't deserve Chifuyu_… Ichika watched for Chifuyu's reaction, thankfully she seemed quite displeased herself, visibly trying to hold herself back from this likely, in fact she looked to be a few seconds to completely murdering this very important man… Ichika didn't answer to higher authorities though, he was an international contractor after all. 'The best in the business… now I'm not much of a praying man… but please, if you're hearing any of this I'd really appreciate it if you caused a large sum of trouble to be stuck with that man, hear my prayer... Goddess Zero, Zulu and Zuko.' as soon as he finished that thought, he saw one of his IS cannons manifest and fire at the window closest to the man.

"AHH!~" yelped the man, hiding behind Chifuyu, using her as an obvious meat-shield. "What the hell? ARE WE UNDER ATTACK?!" the official looked around frantically, nearly pissing his pants, Chifuyu's eye twitch as she looked to where it came from, when she looked through the window she only saw Ichika and a couple engineer's looking around confusedly, upon noticing Ichika her body immediately tensed, as she inspected him she noticed the faint smile of satisfaction blooming on his face, he was obviously the one who did it, but how? 'Did he already receive what's inside the…' her thought's trail off as she noticed the box was shut as tight as it had been when it first arrived, no way he would be able to calibrate himself quickly enough to deploy his IS, fire, then disperse it as easily, only someone with years of experience could do such things.

She'll have to check the security footage later, right now she had a package exchange to oversee between a Japanese government and a headache inducing male IS pilot, ever since she first saw him she didn't know what to think, but she felt familiar with him, yet at the same time, complete strangers… it made her uncomfortable, especially when her little brother's the topic of thought, immediately she decided this was an imposter, he was nothing like her weak brother, the brother she abandoned for a stupid title… yet the boy did seem to know things no one else did, like those words of 'bravery'… if this wasn't Ichika, which it obviously _couldn't be_, he must have had some sort of interaction with him… he might even be one of the kidnappers… then again he was a little young for that… she'll continue later, right now she had to get to work.

Upon her approach Ichika straightened himself up, awaiting the obvious attack coming his way, however he did remember her words from earlier, that if he moved or blocked he was pretty fucked, so when she was a foot away he didn't flinch when she brought her fist down on his head in (well in both Orimuras case) quite a slow hit, as soon as her fist connected she blinked in confusion. "Ow onee-sama, ease up on baby bro would ya?" she was about to retort with quite a few particularly colorful choice of words that surely could have ended in a bloodbath at the jab about her dead brother (Rest his soul.) when the government official seems to have recollected himself and approached the group near the metal crate.

"Ah, you must be the male pilot the whole world is bending over backwards looking for, am I wrong?" Ichika smiled politely. "Yessir, it appears I have_ finally been found_." he discreetly looked at Chifuyu when he said this, then looked back at the man. 'Unfortunately for you, I already don't like you so… ' thought Ichika internally as he shook Mr. fancy uniform's hand, the man tried to show his 'dominance' by crushing Ichika's hand, unfortunately when Ichika was challenged he never let his challenger off easily, so in response to the arrogant man, Ichika squeezed back… five times as hard, causing the man yelp in pain and snatch his hand back.

"So, what brings you here today Mr…?" Ichika kept up his facade, though he had already done thousands of meetings and deals for things he had no interest in, this man would end up just another reject, after all, Ichika was a self-reliant man and all, he had no time for silly games he's won thousands of times before. "Ah, straight to the point, I like that kid." 'As well do I sir, but only with people worth my time.' "Well, to be frank, let's be honest kid, as soon as your done with this… 'I.S. training'… you'll have to eventually pick which government to contract with, as you know many people will play hard ball just to get a glimpse at you, anyway, the local Government is gonna make you a sound offer." 'Here we go…' thought Ichika with an internal yawn, though keeping his persona as ignorant and innocent as ever. "If you join Japan, we'll give you your own personal IS unit, and in exchange all you have to do is give us data." 'yep, just a lab rat… I'm good fella.'

The conversation caught everyone in the hangar's attention immediately, a first year student, a _boy_, was getting his own personal I.S. unit handed to him, this was really big news to everyone, as you couldn't just _'Get'_ you own personal I.S. unit, as there wasn't a large amount of cores made in the world at the moment… or maybe ever. Everyone watched with bated breath for the ultimate conclusion, a conclusion that would soon drop their jaws and eyes boggle out of their sockets. "All of this was actually _going to happen anyway_ to be honest, we just couldn't get a solid answer on what your real name is… so what do you say we just sign your name on this contract, and you can officially have your own personal unit…"

"I decline." Ichika's smile was unwavering and voice cheerful as ever, but everyone of the staff member's/student personnel members almost completely lost their shit right then and there, the official continued: "Good just sign her-... eh?" he didn't seem to prepare for a rejection, this man obviously thought Ichika would have said yes hands down, the man was quick to retort in a surprised voice. "A-apologies, I seem to be hard of hearing… mind repeating that 'Zamba'?" Ichika nodded with a sweet smile. "Of course, I would like to reject your offer outright… as I am already contracted with many nations already, not to mention I already have my own personal I.S. ." at this everyone was dead silent, Chifuyu narrowed her eyes, he was definitely guilty now, there was no way any of this happened since he arrived, she's been keeping a close eye on him, and he hadn't been contacted by anyone before he came here, he hasn't even shown any sign of there being a personal IS unit on his form… not at first glance anyway.

"And finally, because you couldn't even be bothered to call me by my name, or even introduce yourself, which was quite rude… nicknames are for acquaintances by the way, in case you haven't noticed… my name is Ichika sir._ Ichika Orimura_… now, if that is all, I'm going to be late for class." he was about to continue to class when someone behind him shouted. "What could possibly be better than a third generation IS, there's no way your IS is better than our's." when Ichika heard this he turned on his heel.

"Let me tell you something buddy: in my heart sits a hole, a hole you couldn't possibly fill with some third generation unit… for my heart's hole is already filled with a bonded I.S. of my own, and I can promise she refuses to release her clutches on me, so I won't toss her out for some stranger I haven't a clue about that likely doesn't want anything to do with me… her and I are fused, she keeps me alive, she's keeps me happy, she gets anything and everything she wants without question… and right now she wants to continue her day away from the 'hussy' that tried to replace her… her words not mine," the man looked baffled for a moment before pinching his nose. "I'm sorry, 'She?' are you an idiot? It's a machine kid, they can't feel things like you and me, it isn't even sentient." when the man was about to continue, Ichika pointedly smiled at him. "Course she is, all IS's are alive, perhaps the reason why every other man has yet to learn to pilot one is probably because you refuse to acknowledge the poor girls as partner's, instead of as tools, there's nothing special about me that I haven't already looked for my friend… in fact I have already gotten a few companies to try to use my DNA sequence… it was a 100% failure."

"There's really nothing special inside me that allows me to pilot an IS, I just understand them better, this is why I can pilot them, this is why I have such a strong bond with my unit… we're inseparable… so until you understand that, don't even bother trying to contact me." he was about to storm off as some of his anger was starting to slip through, but stopped momentarily to bow respectfully. "I trust I'll see you in class soon Miss Orimura… I'll be going now." he momentarily looked back at the angered government representative, then continued on his way, pulling out a journal and writing furiously through it's pages, disappearing around the corner.

There was an uncomfortable pause for everyone in the hangar, not a word was spoken, not a single twitch. That's when Chifuyu started instructing some staff and students to reload the unnamed officials package onto the cargo truck that originally brought it there in the first place, when he heard her order's he immediately snapped from his shock. "No! It's staying here, and he's signing this contract… I refuse to leave without a signature from…" he trailed off when he noticed the way Brunhilde looked at him, she looked like she was staring at a child throwing a tantrum for not getting what he wants… and seeing as how this little deal ended, that may as well have been the case.

He took a moment to recompose himself, and strained smile at Chifuyu. "Is there, by any chance, a way you might know who he's contracted to? It would be much appreciated, even a single name…" he was already grasping at straws when he didn't even need to yet, the poor fool. "I apologise Lieutenant, but it seems he's made his decision very clear, now, seeing as you have no further business here, I suggest you head back. Speaking of heading back I do need to get back to class… good day." when she finished she handed a clipboard to a passing engineer and made it her mission to catch up to 'Ichika.'

Chifuyu quickly caught up to the male pilot and crossed her arms, tapping her foot, Ichika looked up from his journal, looking around after spotting his sister, then put his book away with a barely concealed frown. "I'm glad to finally have an opportunity to speak to you…" he said in a grave tone, Chifuyu raised a brow. "About what exactly?" Ichika responded by pulling down his goggles to hang around his neck, showing his slightly damp eyes and slightly hurt expression. "Why didn't you come to save me back then?" Chifuyu was caught off-guard at his genuine hurt look and tone, as well as his out of the blue question. "... What?" was her shocked response, he clarified his feelings. "I-I'm not angry that you left me on that ship… in fact I was really happy you ended up winning again… I was happy that you didn't let our capture to hold you back… b-but honestly it still hurts knowing you chose something else over me and M-madoka… I… I only wanted to know why you abandoned us… abandoned me…"

Ichika was holding back as much of the sudden emotional storm that came over him as he could, he never felt like this before, the weight of confronting the reason he wasn't a normal person anymore… he killed so many people in the name of money now, he killed and killed and killed, even laughed as he did so… all because he was never saved… all because he had to save himself. "Before you say something like you didn't know at the time… I saw you… on the screen speaking to that fat _bastard… _you said some very… h-hurtful… what you said _hurt_." he struggled to compose, now trying to replace his shameful sadness with some kind of anger, not enough to lash out, just enough to somewhat compose himself. "I ended up having to kill people that night… in the middle of nowhere… I-I… I thought I was gonna _die_! and that Madoka was gonna die… and no one would even know, or _care… not even you_… I tried to find a way for us to escape, a way for us to live, and all I could do was toss her off the ship with a vest… after that… I just kept fighting... and _killing_." his anger started to waver, evident in the shaky tone he had in his voice.

". . ." Chifuyu hadn't said a word during his explanation, this was a stranger, _no,_ her little brother,her _dead_ little brother was standing right here, asking her the question that had haunted her dreams _'Why.'_ he continued: "I was supposed to die y'know, I had chains on me the entire time… even after I 'escaped.' I was chained for years… I turned the tools of my imprisonment _into my weapons_… remember that _IS _I mentioned earlier? It's because of her that I lived this long, it's because of her you still can't recognise me even when I'm standing right in front of you… the Tattoos, the hair… even my eyes… those chains were an abandoned project, it was an _IS_ core that had been chained to me Chifuyu-nee… that's why I'm here… because of my _IS_ capabilities… she chose me and now I'm strong like you wanted me to be... _self-reliant _even… is… isn't that what you wanted? Is _this_ what you wanted from me?"

Ichika had broken down now, nearly sobbing after a full minute of no response he started to wipe his tears away, hastily putting his goggles back on to reign in his emotions better, especially his evidence of crying just now. Recomposing himself he took a deep breath and gave a respectful nod to his sister… or rather, his teacher. "I'm sorry I have disturbed you Chifu-

… _Miss Orimura_… I-I'm going back to class now… see you there." he made sure to correct himself before he left. "Wait!" he didn't stop, he regretted feeling these emotions, they were unfamiliar to him since he was a child, he only felt positive emotions since his escape from the ship, but now these negative emotions have made him _weak_, he had to seal them away, lest he risk them dampening his performance… he was not going to feel this horrible feeling any longer. "Zero, I was wrong, you were right… I'm sorry… p-please turn back the emotional dampeners r-right now… I think I'm going to be sick at this rate." he supported his words by cupping his palm to his mouth while walking at a quicker pace. There wasn't any response, but the relief of negative emotions told him she did her part. "T-thank's… do me a favor and tell me a joke or two will ya? It'd really help."

What happened earlier when he left the hangar and started writing in his book, he stumbled upon a page about his unnatural emotions, when he asked Zero if she had any idea why he was emotionally different from everyone else she said it was because of her doing, when he demanded she stopped playing with his emotions she tried to warn him that it would result in a negative ending, when he brushed aside her warnings and demanded to feel real emotion she let it rip, the flood gates of emotions he hadn't felt for a very long time…

It was a very stressful result.

But now Ichika learned a lesson in a door he never bothered to open… or rather, a flood gate, and that lesson was clearly written on a mental note and slapped back onto that flood gate, it stated as follows: '_DON'T FUCKING OPEN'_. Nodding in mental satisfaction, he continued at a more even pace, and walked into the classroom, taking his seat silently… as soon as he sat down the bell rang, and everyone started shuffling to their respective rooms, after a few minutes Orimura and Yamada sensei stepped in, the ladder speaking frantically in hushed whispers until she was silenced by the former's universal look of 'enough'. As soon as Yamada got that look she looked around as to why she was being silenced, apparently not noticing the large classroom full of… well... students.

When she spotted Ichika she looked startled, apparently looking at him in a new light, be it from Chifuyu telling her what she's discovered on him, or maybe hearing about the events of the hangar, either way she obviously seemed… uncertain? When she was nudged by Chifuyu to speak to the class, she immediately snapped out of it and entered teacher mode.

0-0-0-0-0

It's around the end of class and Yamada has just told them that basically they had to memorize everything he already knew by the end of the week… did I mention he already knew all this? "Does anyone have any questions regarding today?" there were no questions, no hands raised, but Yamada wasn't sure that the 'inferior male' understood the material that most women already knew. "Do _you_ have any questions… I-Ichika?" upon hearing his name a few girls started gossiping, other gossipers looked far too much into the fact that she had stuttered his name and had been acting strangely around the boy, they were probably going to start a rumor of shippage between poor Yamada and Ichika, after a few seconds Ichika spoke up to silence everyone else. "Yes Yamada-sensei… what if I already know all of this?" he asked in a dead serious tone… after a few seconds everyone burst out laughing at the idea of him already knowing all of this material, especially a male who likely never piloted an I.S. for very long.

Ichika held his expression of dead seriousness while Yamada quieted down from her giggling, when she noticed his expression was dead serious she recoiled. "W-well I suppose they wouldn't have to do the work, but they would have to prove they know all of this by taking a test." at first he looked down at the dreaded pile of work he'd of had to do if he were one of these girls, then he smiled. "Ah, I see, would you mind if I took that test Miss Yamada?" before Yamada could speak another student piped up. "You can't be serious, there's no way you know all of this before we would, everything in these sheets-" she was interrupted by Ichika. "Why wouldn't I?" that caused everyone in the room to pause for a moment, then he continued. "What makes you believe I wouldn't know anything about the I.S. ? What makes you think I would fail this test? What gives you the right to judge me when you don't even know anything about me."

Everything he said was so calm, but everyone heard what he was underlining, those words weren't something someone said so… unnervingly calm. "Is it because I'm a male? Perhaps it's because of my misleading appearance?" he waited patiently. "If you believe I might even cheat, would you like to watch over my test personally? Would that make you believe I'm not as inferior as you'd like to believe?" the girl averted her gaze, sitting silently, when everyone else saw her back down they started to fall back as well, albeit reluctantly. Ichika noticed the domino effect, and the morale visibly lower, he hates low morale, even from his enemy… if only people smiled more during fights perhaps there would be less fights? But kind smiles… not psychotic ones that he's _oh so used to._

"I believe there is a saying… 'don't judge a book by it's cover'… only it's contents… have you read me yet?" he smiled gently and looked back at Yamada. "On second thought, I'll _pass _on that test Miss Yamada, it seems to be… a very uncomfortable thought that I may know something my peers don't… excuse my _apparent ignorance_." he quietly leaned back in his chair, and looked through the paper's stacked on his desk with disinterest, remembering all of this was basic stuff, he was on an expert level… what a bummer.

"W-well then, let's continue class and turn to page twelve in your textbooks…" and just like that, class was back in business, the air from the previous event hung for a minute before finally dissipating into thin air, though everyone was discreetly looking back at Ichika with a multitude of different expressions… but most of it was uncertainty. Ichika thought about what he said earlier. 'Are my tattoos really that off putting to them? It's gonna suck trying to get them off… the sacrifices I take to experience normalcy… oh well.'

0-0-0-0-0

It was finally the end of class and Ichika immediately stood up, packed up the useless info he received in a bag, and started making for the door when someone stopped in front of the door. "May I have a moment?" she asked politely, he smiled. "What can I do for you today Miss Alcott?" she smiled smugly and replied, more to herself, in english "It's good to see a commoner tribes monkey like yourself knows who I am at least, I shouldn't be surprised… but a commoner _should _be honored to speak to someone of high standing as a Representative Contender such as myself, so honored you should be on your knees licking my boots, especially a japanese descended Male such as yourself." Ichika's smile dropped slightly when the previously polite cute blond girl had turned into… _that_,

His eye twitched.

"Actually Miss Alcott… that was… that was actually quite racist… and sexist as well." he pointed out grimly in english, to which earned a shocked gasp out of her, and a few out of some eavesdroppers. "And I'm sorry if I mislead you somehow, but I know of you because of your family, not because of your reputation, they're an… _acquaintance_ of my company's services from time to time concerning security… now if you'll excuse me, this conversation has left a bad taste in my mouth… good day." he said uncomfortable and shuffled past her gaping maw, being sure not to trip on her lower jaw.

Everyone who was watching… who was pretty much everyone was slack jawed at what they just heard, Ichika had just spoken english… this was going to be a popular new rumor for sure, like how many other languages he may speak. "How many other languages do you think he has?" asked one girl who stated everyone's thoughts in the open. While that was happening Ichika's smile returned full force, not letting any of the negative encounter's eat at him like he always used to. After a minute of walking he noticed a very large group of girls following close behind… "If this is what a normal life is like then I might want to _wake the Knight's_ and escape from this hell soon… I'll just have to hang in there I suppose." when he walked into the dorms building he asked where he'd be staying, when he was told his room he asked of any roommates, when he was answered that, indeed, he had a roommate he sighed heavily, then started walking back out. "Hey, where are you going? Aren't you headed for your room?"

Ichika stopped and simply said. "It is a crime among my people and a custom to share a room with another only if its family or a significant other… neither of which I have here, I'm going to hop a train and get back to my apartment… if that cannot be done I shall sleep in a tree like I used to long ago." he bluffed, just throwing excuses for convenience's sake, he gave a sigh and walked outside, accidentally bumped into someone, when they started falling he caught her. To his surprise he caught his twin, as soon as he recognised her he started smiling like a mad man.

"Well isn't this a surprise… long time no see elder." when Madoka saw who was at fault for her sudden fall, and her current reason of a sour mood she pushed away from him. "The hell you want!" Ichika's smile faltered. "I'm sorry… you seem to be in a bad way… wanna talk about it?" Ichika was never one to leave his family hanging, if they had a problem his problem was to solve it… just like when they were kidnapped. She scowled. "Talk about what? About how you people insist to fuck with me about my dead brother? Constantly telling me it was my fault or that I don't have him to cry to anymore when I'm alone? What is your deal huh? What did I ever do to you?!"

Ichika saw her distress. "You know I didn't tell you to live to be all… negative… know what I mean?" she paused at his words, but shook them away when she was ready to retory, fortunately he interrupted her. "What, you really don't recognize me? Is it the tattoos? Maybe the hair…? Is it..." he pulled up his goggles. "Is it the eyes? My voice? My height?" she finally yelled. "It's because your not my older brother! He's dead, always has been always will be!" Ichika saw her anger visibly but didn't flinch. "What would it take?" she recoiled, not expecting him to continue his charade. "What would it take for you to believe me?" he pressed his question, leaning forward slightly. She didn't step back, still staring defiantly into his own eyes.

"What's my favorite colors?" she asked, he answered: "It's Red and Black, in that order, mine is Black and Red… in that order." he teased, grinning, she looked startled but pressed on.

"Favorite food?" "Crepes, specifically Cherries and Banana flavoured."

She didn't back down. "Favorite pastime?" he responded, looking nostalgic. "It used to be playing video games with me and sparring together, even walks… but I recently heard about your liking to just training in everything and reading, good to know it wasn't hard to replace me." he stated without a hint of smugness to his voice, he just continued to sound pleased.

"Most embarrassing moment?" he rolled his eyes. "Like you were ever embarrassed." he snorted light-heartedly, she thought she finally had him until he paused. "Well, unless we're talking about_ that one incident_ we swore to never speak of ever again." she raised a brow questioningly at his thinly veiled hint, she bit her lip. "What Incident?" she snapped, already frustrated that he seemed to be no ordinary bully, but a _stalker _as well. Ichika motioned his finger in a come hither motion, she leaned in her ear and he whispered. "That time when I didn't know any better and said I'd marry you." he snickered when he saw her face flush bright red, he was sure he had finally convinced her when she shot off hotly.

"Who was my first kiss!?"

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_**(A/N: I edited (cleaned up) just a little… couldn't stall forever, and I figured if I was just gonna hold out I might as well make it clean-**__**ish**__**… also, I'll have even less time to write, as I'm focusing on 'work', the only kind of work I can't trick myself into thinking is fun… so it's going to be slow going more than usual.)**_

_**(QoD: Whaddya guys think about the 2A Virginia thing going on? What's your favorite kind of music? Would you rather be Blind or Deaf?)**_

_**(Epstein still didn't kill himself.)**_


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